A Crash Into Reality
by Sakura Bontecou Kobayashi
Summary: Being a normal girl, going to a normal school and leading a fairly normal life, there is honestly nothing interesting about me. Magnificent things only happen in movies. That is, until I spotted this cute guy on the street in my car. And I ran over him.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto or any of the characters below. Just own the plot. Sadly._

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**Prologue**

I sighed for the nth time that afternoon, walking down the hallway to gather my stuff from my stupid locker. I mean, come on, I was the daughter of a university professor, for heaven's sake! I'm supposed to go to a great college, become a doctor, and have one of the most successful lives in the world. How can I flunk a freakin' math test? Again? Sure, I'm not dumb, and I get A's in other classes besides calculus, but getting a D on a pop quiz for the third time this month? That's just not tolerable. I'm a disgrace.

I sighed again, and ignored Ino as she sighed as well and placed a perfectly manicured hand on my shoulder.

"Lighten up, Sakura," she said to me, her light aquamarine eyes shining. "Frowning gives you wrinkles, and wrinkles make you ugly. Men don't like girls that frown or ones that have wrinkles. It's basic math. Live and learn!"

"Gee, thanks for the advice," I muttered back, pouting, "but you're basically nothing like me, Ino-pig. You're going to be a model when you grow older; you're not pursuing an academical profession like me. I mean, have you ever thought of becoming a doctor in the future?"

"No," Ino said immediately, and I glared at her slightly while she laughed, "but being pretty is also really important, especially now that you got your forehead problem out of the way." As if to prove a point, she flicked my head.

"Good to know, pig." I mumbled irritatingly, and shoved her hand away. "Now, stop flicking my forehead."

"Fine, fine. Just don't worry about it, okay? It's just one test. Get over it."

"Uhuh." I muttered miserably, and I heard Ino bid farewells to her other classmates. You see, even though Ino was extremely vain, not exactly studious and fails in P.E., she was always confident in _everything_ she does. She's beautiful, not to mention rich. Girls want to be her; boys wanna be _with_ her. Although she was my best-best friend, I still couldn't help myself from being incredibly jealous of her.

And me, if you were wondering -though I highly doubt you actually care-, am probably on the bottom of the social ladder.

. . . Okay, maybe that was a bit over-exaggerating.

But seriously, I'm just gonna get to the point. I'm not dumb, but I'm not the smartest, either. Math was probably my worst subject, otherwise I have a passing grade in other classes. The only thing I'm _really_ good at was P.E.. _But_, I am still very clumsy.

I know, many of you probably think I'm crazy -which I possibly am-, but it's true. I'm a klutz. Can't blame me; that's one of the only things I inherited from my mother. With the exception of my brilliant green eyes that are probably the only thing that stood out on me. Yup, my mom was beautiful; she was a model. But me? No, I'm far from beautiful.

Speaking of my mother, yeah, she's dead.

Sad, huh?

But, at least I had my beloved father, even though, being a dad, he can still be really annoying.

My dad, as a professor, was rarely home. Even if he was, he would probably be hiding in his office all day. We were middle-class citizens. Though, we're nothing close to Ino's family -since her mom owns this incredibly thriving clothing store-, we still survived.

Basically, I am your average, teenage girl. Well, I'm a young adult, really. 17. Ha ha.

. . . I don't care if I don't sound 17. Shut up.

"Well, Sakura, I'll see you tomorrow!" Ino said to me before I turned around. I smiled at her and waved.

"Bye, Ino." I replied, and glanced affectionally at her as she danced away. And yeah, literally, _danced_ away.

Sure, I'm really jealous of her, but she's practically my sister. I love her.

So, to end the school day, I stuffed my homework in my bag, slammed my locker door shut, and headed out to the parking lot for my car.

* * *

The car was pretty old, it used to be my dad's, but I insisted on keeping this one -since it's still usable and held a lot of memories- while my dad bought a new car that he used to go to work. Ino, being the rich girl that she was, managed to save up her _allowance_ to buy her own car. Lucky bitch.

I was probably the worst failure in the whole school. I mean, seriously, nothing about me sticks out. Except for my abnormally huge forehead -as Ino pointed out-, _and_ I had pink hair. Cotton-candy-pink hair!

It sucked.

I took a sip of my juice from my straw.

Literally.

As I turned the corner, I realized how practical Konoha is. It's a beautiful but small town somewhere in the southern part of Japan, and many people come here for vacation. Since it's spring and it's only two months away from summer, there were already a few tourists here. Not a lot, but still some.

I sighed happily as I slowly drove down the street in my beat-up Toyota.

Hey~ Hey! Who's that?

No seriously, who the heck was that?

That person? Can't you see that incredibly cute boy walking down the street?

. . .Oh. Oh! Right, you can't. My bad.

Anyway, as I turned another corner to a more deserted part of town, I saw this cute boy on the sidewalk, wandering aimlessly down the lane with his hands in his pockets.

Sure, I'm not boy crazy, but it's still alright to observe, right?

His raven-black hair ruffled against the wind, and I could tell by how his hood was right behind his neck, that it must've blown off because of the wind or something. Oh yeah, I'm a detective. I couldn't exactly see his eyes from this distance, but they seemed to be thinking, and by the way his eyebrows were a bit scrunched up and he was biting his lip slightly, he was definitely deep in thought. His blue hoodie made an interesting contrast to his pale skin, and he strolled down the sidewalk purposelessly.

He seemed incredibly familiar. Probably just a cute boy from school.

I shrugged slightly and continued down the road, for I had slowed down a lot to observe Cute-guy and his aimless wandering. As I turned the radio a bit louder, Cute-guy stepped off from the sidewalk onto the street. I didn't notice him do that.

Until I stepped on my break compellingly, watching in horror as Cute-guy collided into my car, his head banging on the car's hood.

* * *

_Ooo! Sakura's in trouble, ne?_

_Anyways, this is my first Naruto fiction, and I know the characters are (or 'will be') pretty OOC. I'll try not to make them _too_ out of character, but it thickens the plot, you know? I honestly don't like Sakura's personality in the animes and manga; there are times where she was extremely weak, and I, personally, don't really like that. Well, that's just me. I'll try to make this story as funny as possible, so I hope you guys are liking it so far._

_Just so you guys know, this story was originally intended for this other anime "Cardcaptor Sakura", but I realized that I'm writing another story about it, so I changed the category. I hope this'll fit. By the way, more characters are coming soon. This was just an introduction._

_I will update the next chapter as soon as I see that there are enough people reading it. I mean, I honestly don't see the point of updating when no one bothers to, at least, browse it. So we'll see. :)_


	2. Chapter 1

_Well, nice! Three reviews, already! I guess my start wasn't too bad after all. :) Thank you TigerLilyette, andtheniwaslike, and SasuSakuraKawai. I'm glad you're liking it so far._

_Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto or any of the characters below. Just own the plot. Sadly._

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**Chapter 1**

"Oh. My. God." I breathed out, my jaw still hung open as I stared at the front of the car where Cute-guy just collapsed. I ignored the fact that my hand had slipped and the radio was playing unbearably loud against my ears, but my heart was the only this audible, pounding hard inside my brain.

I just killed one of the cutest boys I've met in my life!

Holy shit.

. . .

Well don't just sit there like an idiot, Sakura! Get your idiotic ass out of the car and call the ambulance!

. . .

Right. . . right.

I stumbled out the vehicle, my legs becoming rubber at the contact of the concrete. Fumbling out my cellphone from my pocket, I immediately tripped over to the unconscious body, who laid in an awkward position on the ground in front of my car. I could hear a man shouting a few yards away, demanding 'What the hell is going on?', but my eyes were only set on one thing and one thing only.

The boy and his raven-black hair was covered in blood.

&*$*.

&*%#$&!*%!

^%#*#^$%^&*&^$##%$^*%!

Okay, Sakura, you can stop swearing now.

"A-are you okay?" I gasped out after I kneeled down next to him, my hands wavering over his unconscious body. Well, wasn't that a stupid question, Sakura? The guy's fucking fainted for heaven's sake!

"I-I'll call the ambulance!" I yelled out to no one in particular, my fingers fumbling over the buttons. "Just-just hang on!" I continued to shout, and couldn't see when more people crowded around us, murmurs flying in the air.

"Oh my heavens! What happened him?"

"Is he alive? Call the police! No! The fire department! No! The dentist! No! _The freakin' ambulance_!"

"Can't you be more careful on where you drive, young lady? You could've killed him!"

"He might already be dead, you imbecile!"

"H-hello?" I ignored them, panting in my phone after a young woman picked up. "Um, I have a man who has suffered a serious car injury. Could you please send an ambulance here?"

"Alright, miss, calm down. What is your location?"

"Um," I looked around for some building names, "I'm right next to the Development Bank of Japan. Could you please come as soon as possible?"

"I will be right there, miss, please remain calm!" and with that, she hung up.

I hurriedly stuffed my phone back in my pocket, and brushed back a few locks of the boy's black hair. I'm going to become a surgeon when I grow up, anyway, why not start now by at least examining a fatal injury like this?

Cradling his head in my hands, I tilting him back a bit, looking for the wound in which the blood had been oozing out from. I brushed more of his hair back and looked at the top of the head. His forehead was fine, just a few scratches, then I bent down and looked at the side.

There seemed to be more blood sticking to his hair in one particular area, right behind his temple and above his left ear. According to one of dad's old books, that area is where the Temporal Lobe is located, and it's associated with one's memory, perception, and speech.

If he had lost his memory. . . then that would be _bad_.

Wow, Sakura. Duh!

"The ambulance! The ambulance is here!" I heard someone shout behind me, and I lifted up my head to see flashing red lights heading this way. Well, that was fast.

But Konoha wasn't a particularly big city; everyone knows where was where.

I tried to remain calm as a white van pulled over, and three people jumped out from the back, pulling a white cart along with them.

"Have you been checking his condition?" a man asked me, and he bent down to check on the body.

"Y-yes," I stammered, nodding as the doctor took over the boy, gesturing for other people to pull him onto the cart. "He's still alive, but I think his Temporal Lobe is damaged.

"We'll take care of him from here," he said to me, then took black transceiver from his pocket and held it to his mouth, "what is your name, miss?"

"Haruno Sakura."

He said something into the gadget, but my eyes following the unconscious form as he was carried into the van on the cart. A few females hurried around and scattered in as well.

"Are you hurt, ma'am?" the doctor asked me, and I shook my head in return.

"No, I'm fine."

"Well, if it's alright, please come with us to the hospital and contact your relatives. There will be a few discussions that will have to be made."

"Yes, sir." I immediately replied, and watched as he nodded and headed to the front of the van. I stood there staring for a while before I finally jumped and headed to my car, driving after them.

* * *

"Sakura!" I heard my dad call from the door, and I immediately stood up to hug him. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"I'm sorry, dad." I mumbled to his coat, a faint smell of coffee and cinnamon lingered in his breath. "I wasn't paying attention. I didn't mean to run over him!"

"I know, Sakura," dad reassured me, pulling back and smiling sadly, "you didn't mean to."

"I assume that you are Haruno-san." A man in a blue uniform suddenly appeared, stepping into the room, a clipboard underneath his arm. "Please sit."

"Is he alright?" I asked as I took a seat across from where the man sat down. He nodded at me.

"The boy is fine, he just suffered some head injury; a few stitches would do," he shifted in his seat slightly, looking a bit uncomfortable, "but the doctors aren't completely sure of his brain condition. There might be a chance that he had lost his memory."

There might be a chance, I thought. Grimacing, I held my head in my hands. What will happen to me? I don't wanna go to jail for the rest of my life! I have a bright future ahead of me, for heaven's sake!

Alright, alright. Just-take a deep breath, Sakura. Calm. Calm down.

"Have you contacted his relatives?" my dad asked beside me, as he realized that I lost the ability to speak. He patted my back.

The officer shook his head, frowning. "His parents are dead, lost in a plane crash yesterday afternoon. He doesn't have any other relatives in the country, as far as we know. We cannot locate any of them."

. . .Wow. Now I feel even worse for running over him.

"Miss Haruno," the officer suddenly said to me, looking at a sheet of paper I had filled out after I arrived at the hospital; I looked up, "had you been fully conscious while you were driving?"

I blinked a few times and tried to register what he just asked me. "I wasn't drunk, if that's what you were referring to." I said to him.

"Do you remember _how_ you crashed into him? Was he on the side walk?"

"Yes, he was." I paused and tried to remember. "At first he was walking on the sidewalk, then I sped up because it was a 50 kilometers per hour zone, and then he stepped off from the sidewalk, so I crashed into him."

"You couldn't stop?"

"I didn't see him."

The officer nodded, and wrote down something on a piece of paper.

"I didn't mean to crash into him!" I exclaimed, panicking. "I mean, I don't even know him!"

"I understand, Miss," the officer said to me calmly. "But you do need to take responsibility of this accident."

"Hai." I muttered, pouting.

"How's the car?" my dad asked me, teasing slightly. I glared at him.

"A small dent. But it's fine. Unlike that person I ran over."

My dad rubbed my shoulder.

"I'll take over from here," he said to me, nodding to the officer. "You go home."

"But I don't wanna go home."

"Go home, Sakura, you've been through a long day."

". . . Can I go visit the person I ran over?"

My dad looked at the officer, who hesitated before sighing and nodding to me. He looked at another sheet of paper. "Uchiha Sasuke, room 183."

I nodded and thanked the officer, then I kissed my dad on the cheek before leaving the room.

* * *

After asking a couple of nurses of where his room was, I finally arrived at my destination, a pale figure laid on the bed, unmoving, the monitor beside him beeped continuously. I stepped inside the room and closed the door softly, carefully walking to the side of the bed.

As I studied his face for a while, his black hair pooled over the white pillows, I finally realized who he was.

Uchiha Sasuke, the son of the Uchiha insurance company! He was even in my grade, and we used to have math class together.

Oh, wow, Sakura, you _finally_ figured it out. Kudos to you!

I sighed and rubbed my large, annoying forehead, trying to calm myself down. I just ran over one of the most important people of Konoha! I am soooo in trouble.

But, wait, didn't that officer just say that his parents were lost in a plane crash yesterday?

Then, that means. . .

Uchiha would be inheriting the company, right?

I remembered that Ino, being the social-girl that she was and she basically knew everyone, told me that he used to have a brother. He was called Uchiha Itai- no, not ouch, um, Itacku, no, uh, Ita-

Anyway, Ita-what'shisface. After graduating from High School, he suddenly disappeared, and rumor said that he became a rebel and joined some gang or something. The group was called Ata-Ata-uh, Attack. What the hell? No. Ata-what'sthename!

Geesh, I should probably gossip more.

I returned my attention back to Uchiha Sasuke, his pale face could match the color of the white pillow against his cheeks. Wow, I hope that he really wasn't that pale. That would just be scary. He looked peaceful in some way, but that didn't stop the corners of his mouth to twitch down a fraction, resulting a small frown on his face.

That only means that he doesn't smile a lot.

I remember walking pass him in the hallway sometimes, and we talked occasionally in class about an upcoming project. But other than that, I barely knew him, even after three years of being in the same school together, I knew nothing about him.

Except that he's a prick. Everyone seemed to know that.

My school doesn't particularly have any stereotyping going on, so there aren't any 'popular' kids or 'nerds', no one really knew each other. Ino was special, though, she's lived here her whole life so she knew everyone. I, on the other hand, transferred here in middle school.

But I knew nothing about this Uchiha.

I leaned down a bit more to examine his skull, looking for any serious damage. There was a white bandage around his head, along with a big pad tied to the side of his temple. The surgeons must've already stitched his head back together, since the officer said there wasn't any fatal harm. I suddenly wondered how much he would charge us. Or me, actually.

And I also wondered how it must've been for the doctors to be putting needles through the side of a head.

I shivered a bit. Ew.

But that also sounds pretty cool.

Suddenly, the phone in my pocket started to ring.

"Hello?" I called to the receiver, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Sakura-chan!"

. . . Wait, that sounded like. . .

"Naruto?" I asked incredulously, and stared at the phone. Indeed, the caller was one of my other annoying best-friends. "How are you calling me? I thought you have a two hour detention!"

"So?"

"'So'? I thought you weren't suppose to use your phone in detention."

"Sakura-chan, you've never been to detention, how do you know?"

. . . The idiot had a point.

"Why are you calling?" I asked him, slightly annoyed. Then my eyes widened when I realized what might be going on. "I am _not_ going to bail you out of detention again."

"Why not?" he whined slightly, and I could hear him pout. "You've done it before! You could do it again!"

"I almost got in trouble!"

"But you didn't!"

"Well I _would'_ve!"

"But you _didn't_."

. . . That. . . dobe.

"No." I repeated, putting my fist on my hip. "And besides, you probably deserved it this time. I also have other things to do."

"You don't even know what I did. . ." he mumbled through the phone, as if he didn't want me to hear. "By the way, what are you doing?"

"I'm in the hospital."

"What?"

"Quiet, Naruto, I'm not hurt."

"Then, why are you in the hospital?"

I took a glance at the motionless body on the bed, his chest rising and falling as he breathed in his slumber. The I returned my attention back to the phone. "I got in a car crash."

"You what?"

"I accidentally ran over this guy on my way home."

"You what?"

"And now he's got ten stitches to his head. Turns out I had run over Uchiha Sasuke, _the_ heir of the Uchiha insurance company."

"You _what_?"

"And if you say 'you what' again, I swear I am going to pummel you to death the next time I see you. Mind you, it wouldn't be hard!"

"I can't believe you ran over teme!"

"Huh?"

"Me and Sasuke have, like, three classes together. He's an idiot, but he's not that bad of a guy."

"Oh, so now you're friends with someone else?"

"You know you'll always be my best friend, Sakura-chan."

. . . Aw. . . that's so sweet.

"I don't care Naruto. Shut up."

I could hear him smile through the phone.

"So is he still alive?" he then asked me, his voice softened a notch.

"He's fine, I think. As I said, he just had a few stitches; but, other than that, he'll be fine." At this, I paused. "Though, it is likely that he lost his memory."

"Ooo. . . that would be _bad_."

"A bit late of a thought there, baka."

"He wasn't in school today."

I thought for a while before I talked again. "Yeah, I think it's because his parents died yesterday."

"What?"

I gritted my teeth. "His. Parents. Died. In a plane crash. Yesterday afternoon."

"How'd you know?"

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see. "The police called his home and found out that his parents were gone. He didn't have any more relatives in the country, as far as we know. I feel really bad for the guy."

". . . Wow. He's just like me, then."

I smiled sadly into the phone, and held it closer to my ear as if it were Naruto. "At least you'll always have me."

I could hear him smile again. He's always smiling. "Aww, thanks, Sakura-chan."

"Sakura," my father suddenly appeared in the doorway, his hand on the knob. He took a small glance at Uchiha on the bed. "Is that the boy?"

I nodded, and turned back to my phone. "Gotta go, Naruto. My dad's probably gonna take me home."

"Alright. Be careful. And try not to run over more innocent lives."

"Shaddup." I grumbled angrily in the phone, then snapped it shut after saying goodbye. I walked up to my dad.

"Is everything alright?"

He nodded. "Everything's done. And Sakura, would you mind taking care of Uchiha-san these days? He has no other relatives."

I nodded eagerly, looking back at the boy. "Of course, I won't."

With that, he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led me to the door. I turned around to close it after me, not before I thought I caught a glimpse of obsidian eyes staring at me, the gaze dark.

But, I was pretty sure that didn't happen.

* * *

_Well, there it is, the next chapter. What do you think? Good or bad? Please, do tell._

_I'm sorry if I made any mistakes; I'm not exactly the best editor and stuff. But, I'm only 13! So. . . I hope that's at least good for my age! AND, just so you know, I don't usually swear. I just thought that 17 year olds would do that. Ha ha._

_ANYWAYS! I'm glad that there were reviews for last chapter, I'm sure I'll be having a lot of fun writing this story. So, please leave a comment! I honestly don't want you to think I'm annoying because of that, but I do like to see what other people think. :)_


	3. Chapter 2

_So sorry for not updating for so long, I've been busy with school and relaxing all the time. I do miss writing, though. I also need some inspiration. . . anyone wanna give a try?_

_Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The person who owns Naruto owns Naruto._

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**Chapter 2**

"You _ran over_ a _hot guy_?" she shrieked at me, the loud scream almost silenced the whole playground. "You ran over one of the cutest guys in school?"

"Yes, Ino, I think we just established that," I bit back a growl, ducking my head so no one will see my cheeks burning with all the attention. "You can shut up and sit down, now."

"I _can't_ believe you ran over _Uchiha Sasuke_," she hissed quietly at me, much to my -unfortunate- relief. I resisted the urge to punch her when she ruffled my hair before looping an arm around my shoulder. "He is _so_ going to get you for this."

"You do realize you're making her feel worse, right, Ino?" another one of my girlfriends, Tenten, piped in, smiling apologetically at me. "I bet she's already scared enough to wet her pants."

"Of course I am," I muttered back sarcastically, taking a bite out of my sushi, and making a face at the sour taste. Since when did this expire? I tore my meal apart. CHA! "And besides, he's probably still half-dead right now, so I'm not worried yet."

"Emphasize on the 'yet'," Ino pointed out, smirking. Once again, I resisted the urge to punch her in the face. I have better self control than that. Oh yeah~

"You suck," I glared at her, thanking Hinata as she shared her cinnamon roll with me. Hinata, being the shyest yet cutest girl out of all of us, smiled at me warmly.

"I'm sure Naruto-kun wouldn't let Uchiha-san hurt you, Sakura-chan," she said softly, looking at a certain blonde's direction. "And also, I know Uchiha-san, he doesn't seem like a kind that would seek for revenge."

"Ah, little one, that you don't know," Ino taunted, wagging her finger. Does that bitch ever stop grinning like that?

. . . It's creepy.

"But, my point is-" and seriously, does she ever stop talking? "Sakura is going to need a lot of help from us later on; we should form a Female Protection Group!"

"A Female Prostitute what?" I muttered. Ino glared at me.

"Forehead, you should just be thankful that we're your friends. Or!" oh, shoot, she's having another idea. "We should hook the two together!"

I would've choked, but I honestly had nothing to choke on. "What?" I spit out.

"You know, that way he won't hurt you if he falls for you! _And_ you'll have a hot guy worshipping every ground you walk on. How great would that be?"

. . . Great. That would just be great.

Wow, I'm getting really sarcastic these days.

_No, really?_

"No way," I growled at her, my inner self ready to pounce on and beat the crap out of her, "no way _in hell_ am I going to do whatever you're planning on letting me do."

"Aw, come on, Sakura, it would be fun! All you need to do it seduce him. You know, like wearing short skirts and see-through shirts with a red bra underneath-"

"SHUT UP!"

"But, Sakura," Tenten piped in, smiling. What? Even _she's_ smiling? "That may not be a bad idea to try making him fall for you. It would be fun."

"Would-be-fun my butt." I muttered at her, crossing my arms. "Hinata, you're on my side, right?"

". . . I honestly don't care."

. . . Wow. Opposite day, much?

"I don't even know why you ever thought of this idea. It's pointless." as if to prove a point, I aimed a finger at her. "Why can't you think of something less stupid? Like -I dunno- stick your face in camel poop?"

"Ew, that's disturbing, Sakura."

"I know. That's the point. In no way am I going to dress up like Karen-"

"The slut," Ino cute in between my sentence.

"-or anyone else similar to her. I honestly don't care if he seeks revenge on me."

"Who's seeking revenge on you?" Naruto suddenly popped out from nowhere, looking at me with his bright blue eyes. I looked pass his shoulder to see another figure behind him. "Why would somebody do that to Sakura-chan?"

"Because she ran over a hot guy."

I glared at Ino.

"Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked, making himself comfortable by sitting down next to me with his legs crossed. I gave him a look that asked him _how in the hell did you know that?_ He didn't seem to catch it. Sigh. "Nah, he wouldn't do that. He's too emo to be thinking about anything else. And besides," he wrapped an arm around me and smiled, "I'll protect Sakura-chan from the monster."

". . . Of course you will."

"Wait, who did you run over?" Kiba asked me. Being one of Naruto's 'close' friends, he had a very similar personality to him.

"Uchiha Sasuke," I replied.

"How?"

I looked at him skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "Ran over? Using a car? Zoom? Pow? Thump? Bleh?"

"Ah. Typical."

"Exactly."

"And he doesn't have a family, right?" Hinata recalled me explaining to them earlier, I nodded grimly.

"Yeah."

"How is teme?" Naruto asked from beside my face. Although he was really close, I was already used to this proximity.

"He's having a concussion, don't know if he's awake yet, and got a few stitches in the head," from the corner of my eye, I see the girls making a face, "but otherwise, no big harm, just a few scratches on his body.

"Does he have issues? How can he not see a car driving right past him? You weren't doing anything illegal, were you?" Kiba asked, and I didn't notice him crouch down next to Hinata to pick food out from her box. She didn't seem to mind.

"I think he's been thinking about his family and wasn't paying attention," I leaned back slightly against Naruto's arm, "I'm gonna have to visit him later on in the hospital. My dad told me to take care of him since he doesn't have any relatives in the country."

"I'll go with you, if you want," Naruto offered, smiling, "don't think I've got detention today."

"Don't think?" I heard Ino mutter from beside him before she looked at me and spoke louder, "Do you think you need more company?"

I shook my head. "No, I really don't want to drag more people into this. Naruto's just fine." then I turned my head and glared at him, "Just don't do anything stupid."

Naruto smiled at me, his eyes wrinkling, "I'll try!"

* * *

Because I ran over Uchiha-san earlier that week -god, that still comes out so wrong! Hell no!-, my dad took away my car for the rest of the year as a punishment. "But," he had said, the keys in his hands, "I will give it back to you once you go to college and get your useful ass working!"

Gee, thanks for the support, Dad.

Naruto and I arrived at the hospital in a bus an hour after school had ended. On the way, we bought some daisies for the room, as it was usually what people bring for patients.

I took a deep breath as a placed my hand on the doorknob, Naruto squeezing my on the shoulder reassuringly. Smiling softly at him, I turned it, and stepped into the room with flowers in one hand.

Uchiha was completely still on the bed, the monitor beeped beside him in a soothing pattern. It didn't seem like he woke up at all, since he hadn't moved an inch from the last time I saw him. The nurse was nowhere to be found; I supposed she had already checked up on him.

"Wow," I heard Naruto murmur beside me, his breath lifting a few strands of hair, "I've never seen Sasuke so. . . frail before. Nah, that's not the right word."

"Battered?" I suggested, and Naruto nodded grimly at me.

"Right."

He walked to a nearby table and took a vase, then walked by me and took the flowers. "I'll go fill it up."

"Thanks," I smiled at him, and he softly walked back out the room. As I heard his footsteps retreat in the hall, I took another glance at the boy on the bed, his face still pale and lifeless. His raven hair laid sprawled against the pillow underneath his head, the bandage noticeable beneath his bangs. It seemed like he finally stopped bleeding, since there wasn't any blood staining the fabric.

I felt so sorry for him. And guilty.

Dropping my backpack on the ground, I stepped over to him quietly, afraid to wake him. The monitor beside me beeped louder now that I've gotten closer to it, leaning over Uchiha's frail figure. I've never actually noticed how beautiful he was; his pale figure almost shining underneath the dim light from the window, his dark brows furrowed slightly over his closed eyes. He really did look like an angel.

_And angel from Hell, that is._

I lifted my eyes to his blazer, perched against a nearby chair on the opposite side of the bed. Slowly, and warily, I walked over to it, wondering if there was anything in the pockets.

And no, I'm not a jacket hacker.

The zippers made clinking sounds as I lifted it up, the rough fabric felt warm against my skin. Although the blazer looked light, holding it in my hands made me realized how heavy it really was. I shifted it slightly, looking for the pockets, and I finally managed to find one of them between the same-colored fabric on the garment. The pocket looked basically invisible.

I'm sure the police have already checked whatever he had, so there shouldn't be anything dangerous or un-allowed objects still resting in there. There shouldn't be, right?

Right.

Hesitantly, I poked my hand into the dip and clenched my fingers. My thumb suddenly pricked against something sharp.

Ow! Crap.

Curious and more daring, I lifted the pocket to eye-level and peaked into it. I reached in again, attempting to pull the object out.

And when I did, I found a silver-chained necklace, a shark tooth-like pendant dangling from it, entangled in black wire.

It was so cool.

I flipped it around, observing it, wondering who had given him this necklace. The pendant wasn't big, about the size of a soda cap, and its tip was quite sharp, but not sharp enough to bleed when you accidentally prick your finger on it. Though, if you put a harsher amount of pressure on it, it probably will break skin.

I wonder if he's hurt himself wearing this.

It matched him well, I decided, watching him from the corner of my eye, the choker still in my hand. I wonder what else he had in his pockets. . .

"Sakura-chan, I'm back!"

I hissed at and shushed him as Naruto made his incredibly loud entrance. "This is the hospital, Naruto, not so loud."

"Why? There's a lot of people in hall and bathroom who's yelling their heads off."

"That's because they have mental issues," I pointed out, then paused and narrowed my eyes at him. "Though, I guess that's a counts for you."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto-half whined, then his attention shifted to the object in my hand. "Hey, is that-"

"It's nothing!" I quickly interrupted, silently cursing myself for forgetting about it. I hurriedly stuffed it back into the blazer and threw it on the chair. Naruto looked suspiciously at me.

"You took it without permission."

"I didn't _take_ it," I jeered at him, crossing my arms, "I just wanna know more about him."

"That necklace has a lot of sentimental value."

My eyes widened as I dropped my arms. "How do you know?"

"Teme told me," Naruto half shrugged, walking to a nearby chair and sitting down. "I asked him one day in class. He told me his brother gave it to him."

"His brother?" I repeated, a little too incredulously. I cleared my throat and lowered my voice, "I thought his brother ran away, or something."

"I think he did. But before that, they were pretty close." he paused there, looking at Uchiha. "But one time, at school, I saw him tear it off angrily in the bathroom."

My eyebrows creased in curiosity, "When?"

"Eh, I think it was the day before he was absent."

So the day before his parents died, then.

But wait. . . does that mean his brother had something to do with this?

"Hey, hey, have you checked all his pockets?" Naruto suddenly chirped, his eyes shining mischievously. "What did you find? Any money?"

"Even if I did, Naruto, I would never give it to you." I said, narrowing my eyes at him. I spotted the vase of flower near the bedside table then, and it looked awkwardly unmatched with Uchiha's still figure on the bed. Yellow and black-and-white. Bleh. I'm gonna have to change it into white roses, or something, the next time I come.

No, not roses. I don't _love_ him!

"Well, Sakura-chan, Teme's still dead. What do you wanna do now?"

I glared at him.

"He is not _dead_,_" _I retorted, huffing. Then I sighed. "And, I guess there _is_ nothing left for us to do here."

"Wanna go get something to eat, then?" Naruto suggested, smiling. "It's better to fill your stomach than staring at him all day."

"Alright, Naruto, go fill yourself up ketchup and greasy fast food while I stand by the side and laugh my head off as I watch you drown yourself in all those cholesterol." I smirked at him. "I can already see the day you turn fat."

He frowned at me, eyes small as he pouted, "Not funny, Sakura-chan, that's actually really scary."

"That's the point," I sneered, and grabbed my backpack from the floor. I pulled on him lightly on the arm after I took another lingering glance at Uchiha. Hmm, I wonder if I can call him 'Sasuke'.

Sasuke-kun~

Oh god. That sounded so wrong.

"Let's go," I said to Naruto, ignoring the bitter taste in my mouth as we exited and I closed the door.

* * *

The next four days, Naruto didn't come with me, and I arrived at Uchiha's room alone with new flowers every two days. Sometimes, I would wash his face and arms with wet cloth, just to keep him slightly sanitized. He hadn't woken up, yet, but I always wondered if he did every time I prepare to go and visit him.

I'm still wondering.

The room was quiet -as usual- when I stepped in and closed the door softly. He was still on the bed, his eyes shut as his head laid on the pillow. I took the vase of slightly-wilting flowers from the bedside table before I realized something was missing in the room.

The monitor. There wasn't a monitor in the room that day.

Curious and slightly confused, I left the room silently to replace the flowers. I tried looking for his nurses in the hallway, but they were probably off somewhere else, tending other patients. I sighed as I threw the old flowers away and washed the vase in the restroom.

When I came back, Uchiha Sasuke was sitting on his bed, staring at his intertwined fingers, his eyes cast down.

And I was standing there, gaping at him with my jaw opened like a fool.

Not completely sure of what to do, I clutched the vase of flowers closer to my chest as I stared at him. If he had noticed me coming in -which I'm sure he did, since he didn't look stupid-, he did a great job of not showing it. Silence stretched on as I placed the vase down to a nearby table -not the bedside table, I noticed- and stood there awkwardly. He looked like a statue -a beautiful, _beautiful_ statue, that is-, and I was slightly afraid to break this moment as we both remained still in our places.

Just as I was about to ask how he was doing and opened my mouth, he surprised me by lifting his head and turning it towards me.

He was glaring.

"Get out," he spat, his obsidian eyes -I knew they were black!- hard and frigid as he stared at me. I looked at him in utter shock this time, my mouth still opened. "Get. The hell. Out."

Even though I could feel myself heating up with anger, my body still moved on its own accord, and nodded and left the room.

His glare never left my figure until I closed the door.

* * *

_Whew! A bit harsh there, don't you think, Sasuke? Sakura _did_ take care of you for the past week! ;)_

_By the way, I'm not using any Japanese in this story. Except for their names and suffixes, of course. Just their, er, labels. Yeah, that's it._

_Anyways, I'm still sorry that I haven't updated for so long. I'll try to update faster next time! Until then, please do leave a comment of how you thought this chapter was. :) Thanks, all!_


	4. Chapter 3

_Hey all! Here I am, presenting to you the next chapter! Nothing much to say, so have fun reading. Please leave a comment after._

_Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would probably make Sakura the main character. XD Or not, since Naruto is also really awesome._

* * *

**Chapter 3**

That lousy, idiotic, stupid, retarded, mean, jerkish, self-centered, brash, and overall completely imprudent son of a–

Okay, watch your language here, Sakura.

Female dog. There you go.

. . . But that would also be an insult to dogs.

Over the past few weeks, _I_, being the _incredibly_ awesome person that I am, tolerated his behavior towards me, even though _I_ was the one who got him his _food_, _washed_ him, and practically acted as his _mother_. Yet, after _all_ the good things I've done for him, he still treats me like trash or his moral enemy, glaring at me once I stepped into his room.

But, come to think of it, he does that to everyone else, too. Even Naruto, who claimed to be his best buddy -but of course, who would actually believe him?-, and sent him tomatoes every time he visited. Apparently, Uchiha -I am _never_ calling him 'Sasuke', never, until I die- loved tomatoes, and he ate them the way I eat my sweets. And trust me, I am obsessed with those sugars, even though I knew they were really bad for your teeth and health.

How can he be such a jerk? I mean, sure, I knew I was the one who ran over him and put him into this situation, but he didn't have to act the way he was acting now. That's just–I mean–ugh! I couldn't use a word; it's just elusive.

There were so many times when I wanted to punch him into oblivion. Cha!

Ino, Hinata and Tenten even came to visit him once (notice that I used the word 'once'), bringing him new flowers, their brilliant smiles, and even some tomatoes (they listened to Naruto, yet they don't listen to me when I warned them not to come?)! Uchiha -being the _donkey_ that he was- glared at them, 'Hn'ed, and pushed the bag of tomatoes forcefully while Hinata was holding them, causing her to drop it. In the end, it resulted on Hinata crying, Tenten fuming and wanting to throw a bunch of swear words at him, and Ino dragging them out of the room while giving me a sympathetic smile. Needless to say, it was one of the worst days for me, seeing my friends going through all that. It had been hell.

Yet, somehow, I never brought up the courage to actually yell at him.

"I agree, he has issues," Ino said to me as the four of us sat under a cherry-blossom tree. Hinata was silent by my side while Tenten was throwing a fit of inappropriate words across from me -and, _woah_, where did she learn _that_ word?-; but Ino seemed unfeigned -or she gave up on telling her to shut up- as she continued to eat her lunch. I couldn't eat, since I was trying to stop myself from yelling like Tenten, as well.

"Stop being so nice to him," Tenten finally said, after she took a deep breath from all that swearing. "He doesn't deserve it. Hit him with a hammer if you have to, just don't let him think it's alright to do what he's doing."

"I agree," Ino said again, looking at me with the one eye that wasn't covered with her bangs, "don't raise his ego, seeing that it's already big enough. Feed him his own medicine; that almost always works on people like him."

"Trust me, if I could, I would. It's just," I sighed and flipped my bangs out of my face, "I dunno, I never got the guts to do it, yet."

"Yeah, well, make up your mind soon, Sakura," Ino continued, taking a huge bite out of her sandwich -which did not look good on a girl like her, I might add-. "Once you have the guts to yell at him and tell him to stop the hell on what he's doing right now, we'll be here to welcome you with open arms and big, fat, wet kisses."

I made a face, "That's disturbing, Ino."

She gave me a creepy smile. "I know."

"And why can't you guys come with me?" I pushed, then paused and took a small glance at Hinata beside me. She lifted her head up at my silence, then smiled softly. I immediately felt guilty at asking. "Sorry, Hinata."

"Don't be," she said softly, setting her water down. "But now that you realized, could you. . .?"

I nodded as hard as I could, "Yes, I'll do it myself. I mean, after all, I was the one who ran over his ugly face."

Ino's intense stare made me turn my head to her. "What?" I snapped.

She looked at me for another few seconds, then she shrugged. "I dunno," she paused to take another bite. "I mean, jerk or no jerk," she gulped, "he's still really hot."

Tenten and I spent the next few minutes gaping, protesting and yelling at her.

You know, I've always imagined my heart thumping so hard because I found my other half, or something, not because I was scared to death of meeting one of the biggest jerks known to the Earth. It was sad, really, it's just sad.

I took a deep breath as I stood outside his door, a box of fresh fruits and a few potatoes in hand.

He heard me as I came in, I knew, but his face did not show it. Walking further into the room, I placed the box on the table near his bed and took a vase of wilting flowers from it, avoiding his face all the way. He was reading a book, his bangs almost covering his eyes, and was still expressionless when I paused to look at him from the side of his bed. I held the vase to my chest, just like I did weeks ago when I first met him.

"U-Uchiha-san," I said, my inner self cursed at my stuttering, "how are you feeling today?"

Once again, he ignored me, continuing to glue his eyes onto his book. I felt my neck flush.

"I'll wash you some tomatoes after this. Is there anything else you need?"

He was still quiet, and I resisted the urge to either sigh and walk away or walk up to him and beat the crap out of him. I actually felt torn.

Sadly enough, my body made the decision to go to the restroom and wash the vase out.

I turned towards the door, only to pause when a nurse entered, looking shyly at us. Behind her incredibly large glasses, she looked very young, probably not too much older than me. She nodded to me as I passed by her to exit through the door. "Uchiha-san," I had heard her say softly, "I'm here for your checkup."

I paused at the door to hear his reaction.

The first few minutes were silent, then I heard a small shifting of fabric, and I assumed that he had sat up straight in his bed. I took a small step out of the door and closed it halfway behind me as I turned, taking a small glance at him on the bed. He wasn't looking at the nurse, but at me, and I quickly retreated and closed the door.

It was only a few steps away that the door suddenly burst open behind me and the nurse ran out, clutching a clipboard I hadn't notice she held before close to her chest. A small sob escaped from her and I immediately touched her shoulder before she would disappear. She turned to me, startled, and eyes watery.

"Are you alright?" I asked, which was a dumb question even though she nodded and wiped her eyes. "What did he say? How mean was he?"

She looked at me with light sapphire eyes, slightly frightened, and sniffed as she wiped her eyes again. "H-he, he asked me, w-what was the point of d-doing such pointless actions, especially when done by p-pointless people." Ouch, wow, that's just too harsh. She sniffed again and tried to stifle a sob, shoulders shaking underneath my hand. "I'm not pointless! Or-or useless!" she suddenly exclaimed, eyes widening as they semi-pleaded me. "I just work here to pay off my college. . ."

I smiled softly at her and rubbed her arm comfortingly, feeling so much pity on her. That _idiot_, what right does he have to say that to someone who's never done a thing to him?

"It's alright, I know you're not," I said, shaking my head as I reassured her. "I'll go talk to him; he needs counseling."

Her eyes widened again at me, only in slight shock, this time. "You would?"

I immediately tensed, knowing the answer was _most likely_-

Well, actually, _probably_-

Okay, fine, _not_ yes.

Geesh, are people really this persistent these days?

_. . . No, it's just you, Sakura. And stop arguing with yourself; you're acting like a complete idiot_.

"I'll, um, try," I managed to croak out, smiling apologetically. She seemed to have understood and nodded disappointedly. "But I'll still try, even just a little." I added.

She nodded again, smiled softly, bowed, and walked away.

I sighed to myself, the vase still in my arms. Then I heard a soft beeping through his door, and turned my head towards the sound curiously. It stopped a moment after, only to replaced by muffled words inside the room. Curiosity reached its peek, and I immediately walked back to the door and stuck my ear up against it.

"Yes, Suigetsu, I'm still in the hospital," I heard his faint voice speak into, I'm assuming, his phone. This was actually the first time I heard him say an actual sentence. Wow. "I'll be out by next week, after I get out of this damn hell hole." He paused, listening to his phone. "No, she left a few minutes ago." Another pause. "What's the point? The hospital is stupid, anyways. I also don't want an idiot doing checkups on me." Oh, ouch. _Ouch_. You're the idiot here! "They call themselves nurses, yet they don't even know how to take me outside." Well, that's because you don't _let_ them! "Doctors are stupid, I would've never come to the hospital if I didn't need to. But because of her-" I took a sharp breath at about what he may say next, but he didn't, and was silent for another few moments. "School? I don't care about school. There's even more idiots, there."

. . . Is the world just a place for idiots to you?

"I don't care," he repeated, but probably answering another question. "They could corrupt for all I care, or find someone else to do it." Corrupt? What corrupt? "This world is just full of idiots," well, that answers _that_ question, "and if everyone can just leave me the hell alone. . ." one more pause, and I heard one humorless laugh from him, "they can die. They can all die in this fucking world. Maybe I'll go back, but I'll just send them to hell if they get in my way. They don't deserve to live, anyway."

. . . Okay, I don't exactly care about who he was talking about, but that was just it.

Before I myself knew it, I barged through the door, and it slammed against the wall with great force. He looked at me, phone in hand and eyes just slightly wide, showing a little emotion that he never had before. I was fuming, and the vase had dropped out from my hand, landing on the floor with a small clank as water spilt out and the flower fell. Thank god the vase was plastic.

It wasn't long before the emotion left his eyes, and he glared back at me with mutual force.

"You, are one _sick_ person," I growled at him, fists clenching beside my body, "I don't care who the hell you were talking about, and I don't care how miserable you think your life is, but you know what? _You're_ the one doing all that! You're making yourself feel worse by making others feel that way. _You're_ the idiot here." I took a breath to calm myself down, but it didn't work, and I didn't mind that time. "Do you know how much time the doctors and nurses spent on you to help you recover? Do you know how much effort they put into it? How can you blame them for doing things they didn't do because you didn't _let_ them? How are they the idiots here? You're an idiot for even _thinking_ that they are idiots! Well, you know what? I'm tired of your idiocy and stupid remarks about people who _care_ about you in life, one that actually included _me_ since I put so much thought in taking care of you these weeks. You could _die_ for all _I _care. Save yourself some energy from all that swearing, because when you throw them out, I'll be the one catching them back, and I dump them back on you again." I turned abruptly and held the doorknob, waiting to leave the room. Then I turned back to him again. His expression was unreadable. "By the way," I sneered, "don't eat what's inside that box. It's poisoned with _kindness_."

Then I stepped out into the hallway, and slammed the door in front of me.

He never spoke a word through the whole thing.

* * *

_FINALLY! This is the kind of Sakura I would love. I mean, she's sorta done that to other people, but she never did it to Sasuke before. And Sasuke, being the usual jerk that he is, deserves to be yelled at. Don't get me wrong, I love Sasuke, but he can be really stupid sometimes. And now that he's known her better, maybe his attitude would change a little?_

_Anyways, this time, could you please al leave a review? As I said before, I don't wanna be pushy or sound desperate, but still, is leaving a comment that hard?_


	5. Chapter 4

_New chapter! Woot! Thanks for everyone who had been reading! I'm glad people reviewed the last one, and I hope this one will be good. By the way, haunted13, can you tell me what to improve on next time so I'll make sure that I will? I'm glad you think it's still good even though it still needs some improvement._

_Disclaimer: Do I need to say it? -sigh- I'd like to think that I owned Naruto, 'cuz that'd be cool._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 4**

One week, four days, fourteen hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds has passed since I last saw that bastard. Wait, 42 seconds now.

Not that I'm counting. I certainly don't keep track of how long it was since I've last yelled at him, nor how I keep biting my nails and wish that he won't come back to school and seek revenge, or how Ino kept glaring at me and tried to get my attention whenever I zone out and think about that jerk-of-a-person.

No, of course, I certainly _do not_ do those things. That would just be dumb.

"You're dumb." Ino retorted.

Point taken.

Tenten had hugged me and lifted me up in her arms when I told her what happened that afternoon, then swore for the next few minutes when she finished suffocating me as Hinata patted my back while I choked. Ino hit me, thumped me on the rear, and started to brag to herself about how awesome her friends were. Hinata was the kindest, as she only smiled at me comfortingly and congratulated me a job well done.

Then Naruto came along, of course. Guh, I am never going to get the end of this.

"Nice, Ugly." Sai said to me, then smiled like old times as I glared his head off. Have I mentioned he was an ass, yet? A huge one, just like that Uchiha Jerk?

At least he talked, and hung out with us and was an amazing artist.

And besides, he was _our_ ass. Hee.

"I never knew you would do it," Naruto had said as we were walking home and _gosh, he _finally_ didn't have a detention that afternoon_. "I mean, no offense, Sakura-chan, but Teme is actually really scary, even for you."

"I know," I said, tilting my head up proudly. "But I did it, so ha."

"Ha." Naruto agreed, and wrapped an arm around me. "Sakura-chan is the best!"

"I thought you were his best friend, though," I asked curiously, quirking an eyebrow at him. "And now you've turned against him and congratulated me for insulting him in his face?"

"Yeah, well, best friends can still stab each other in the back, right?"

I stared at him and blinked.

Boys. I'll never know how their minds work.

"Hasn't he been in the hospital for a month, already?" Sai asked me one day, munching on a cookie I baked for school. I thought for a while, then nodded.

"Yeah, about a month." I agreed, leaning against his shoulder as I peeked a the drawing his was sketching. "I hope he doesn't actually sue me for this."

"Well, it's not exactly your-" he paused suddenly, and thought. "No, wait, it _is_ all your fault."

I glared at me. "Gee, thanks for the boost of self-esteem."

He smiled creepily -which was actually his real smile after I knew him better when he just moved over a few months ago- and looked down at his drawing, adding some shades to it.

"He can't sue me, right?" I asked, panicking slightly. "I mean, if I get sued in high school, I probably won't be able to graduate. And if I can't graduate, I can't go to college. And if I can't go to college, I won't be able to find a job. And if I don't find a job, I'll fail in life, and-" _holy sh-_

"Don't start swearing mentally, now." Sai warned as he read my expression, his lips twitching with amusement. "Don't worry, even if he sues you, he can't exactly do a lot of damage. He probably won't even be able to win because all of us are supporting you. And besides," he turned his gaze back to me, "if you get dragged down to hell, we'll probably go down with you."

. . . Wow. To think back, I think that was one of the sweetest things he's ever said to me.

Which was actually kinda sad.

"He should be back to school soon, though, right?"

I froze and stared at him in shock.

Oh _god no._

* * *

"New semester!" Ino exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Another half a hell year and we'll finally be out of this hell hole! Oh hell yeah!"

Hinata looked at her in exasperation.

"I know! And we already got our acceptance letters!" Tenten continued, clinging onto Neji's arm as she jumped up and down. Neji sighed at his best friend's behavior, calmly prying her fingers off from him. Being a year older than us, and all, he's much more mature.

"I can't wait to go to college and meet cute girls!" Naruto shouted.

Oh yeah, _much_ more mature.

"I'm surprised that you are even accepted to anywhere," Sai said, quirking an eyebrow at him, "I mean, failing most of your classes and all."

"Hey, I'm not _failing_ anything!"

"Yeah, but," Ino said, crossing her arms, "you've got D's."

Naruto started to stutter. "Yeah, well, uh, let's not, uh, just talk about me!" as if to prove a point, he pulled on my arm harshly, making me loose my balance and crash into him. "Sakura-chan got into a really good private school thingy, right?"

. . . 'Private school thingy'?

Oh well, that's what you get for loving an idiot.

"Yeah, that." I muttered, smiling with my lips pressed into a thin line.

"Alright, students, calm down." Kakashi-sensei, my favorite teacher, said in his usual bored tone as he walked into the classroom. "No need to get so excited, now that you're all seniors. . ." he trailed off as he scanned the room with his one eye. "Better enjoy it while you can." he finished, leaving us in utter bemusement.

"Way to start the year." Ino muttered sarcastically as she leaned towards me and snickered.

Just as he looked as if he was going to say something else, he paused at a knock on the door. From my position in my seat, I couldn't see who was there, but murmurs are starting in the first few rows. Naruto leaned curiously to the side, as well. "What's going on. . .?"

Kakashi-sensei walked to the door calmly, muttering a few things to the person there, then walked back to the front of the room and cleared his throat. He paused and looked at the door expectantly. "Would you like to come in?" he asked.

The person grunted, and stepped into the classroom. I gasped.

Uchiha Sasuke, dressed in his black school uniform that we all wear on Mondays and Tuesdays, stopped next to our teacher as he seated him.

When he met my startled -and slightly horrified- gaze, his eyes narrowed.

* * *

I was panicking, shocked, practically wheezing as we walked to our chemistry lab for our next class. Hinata and Naruto were beside me while Neji walked along with his cousin, all three looking at me worriedly.

"He saw me," I gasped, my heart pounding in my ears, "gosh, I can't _believe_ we're in the same homeroom together."

"And he's seated right behind you." Naruto suddenly added. Neji and I glared at him. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Hinata said as she placed a hand on my arm. "He won't hurt you in school."

"And even if he would, Uzumaki and I will beat the crap out of him," Neji added, and I smiled at him weakly, still anxious.

"Thanks, guys." I said, then I sighed. "I'm over-exaggerating."

"Yeah, don't worry." Naruto agreed as we entered class and sat in our seats. Our teacher wasn't there yet, so I randomly chose a chair and sat on it. "Besides, you probably don't even have much classes together."

I nodded, then froze again when I saw his figure entering through the doorway. Wheezing again, I buried my head in my arms. "Oh god. . ."

What the hell? Was he stalking me, or something?

"Sasuke-teme," Naruto acknowledged him as he took a few seats away from Naruto's other side. He sounded surprisingly calm all of a sudden. And angry. From over my arm, I saw Neji and Hinata narrowing their eyes.

"Naruto." he replied smoothly, then fell silent as our teacher came into the room on cue.

"Seatings," was the first thing Yamato-sensei said as he placed a stack of notebooks on the table in the front;. He scanned us silently, tapping a finger on the desk, and looked at a paper in his hands. "I'm going to seat you all in alphabetical order-" I heard a few groans from the first few rows, "-and I don't want any of you complaining about how boring it is." He lifted his eyes and narrowed them amusingly when everyone hushed up. "So, quiet."

I dozed off into space as he announced our names and 'ordered' us into our seats, but then looked at Uchiha through the corner of my eyes. His eyes were fixed on Yamato-sensei, cold and silent, and his face was emotionless when his name was called and he moved to his assigned seat. When he sat down, he looked bored, and it was then that I realized he was sitting right next to me; Naruto was gone.

I blinked a few times, shocked, then whipped my head around in search of my blonde-haired friend. He was seated way in the front, and looked back at me with apologetic eyes.

"Sakura," Yamato-sensei called me, and I looked up at him. He had actually been my biology teacher last year, but was promoted to teach a grade higher. I smiled at him expectantly, and he grinned back. _Another favorite teacher, of course._ "You can stay there."

. . . Ajafh.

Huhsghafkdf.

!

_What the hell?_

"Uh, uh, Yamato-sensei," I stuttered, panic sweating down my back, "I, uh, don't think that's really-"

"Don't argue with me, Sakura," he said calmly, smirking just a bit, "seating with a classmate shouldn't be a big issue."

"But, uh, can't I sit in front-"

"I know you and Naruto love each other, but that's also why I'm separating you two. Now, Neji-"

"Please Yamato-sensei!"

"-you can sit next to Sakura."

. . . Oh.

Okay. That's a bit better. . .

Quietly, Neji strode towards me with a nonchalant expression on his face. His pale eyes were still expressionless when he set them on me, but narrowed slightly when he looked over my shoulder -or was it my head, since he was so much taller than me?-. He sat down on the table next to mine, and leaned over so I can hear him.

"If he lays a hand on you, give me a signal and I'll punch him into oblivion."

. . . Once again, that was one of the sweetest things my male friends ever said. And it's still kinda sad. Sigh.

I smiled at him, nodding. Neji and I weren't too close, but close enough that we don't need the titles after our names and for him to be extra-protective of me. But that's probably because I always took care of his closest cousin for him when he wasn't around. I love boys, sometimes.

_Hell yeah, you do!_

Shut up. You know what I mean.

* * *

"Now, slowly, pour the acid into the flask."

I watched through my goggles as Sasuke tipped the liquid into the container and it sizzled. It surprised me slightly when I found out we were doing actual experiments on the first day; not that I was complaining. Chemistry was fun!

Well, if I had a nicer lab partner, it would've probably been better.

Speaking of lab partner, Uchiha Sasuke hadn't said a word to me, yet. It's quite comforting, really.

"Slowly, Sasuke-kun," Karen slurred, batting her eyelashes slightly through her glasses, "Or else it will run out from the entrance and stain the table."

. . . I cannot _believe_ there were actual people like her on this world. I mean, she really was a-

Uh.

Well, let me whisper this to you: Ssssssluuuu–

You get what I mean. She, clearly, took people to her apartment every week! I mean, seriously! What's with all the hickeys on her necks that I saw once a morning of every month? And also, trust me, no one would wanna take her to bed more than once. Sure, she's smart, and her gorgeousness can rival Ino -and she is magnificent!-, but everyone knew what she did to the male -and possibly even female- students here. God, why am I wasting time even thinking about explaining her?

Anyways, back to the experiment. And my stupid lab partner.

Uchiha suddenly glared at me.

"W-what?" I asked dumbly, slightly confused. Did I just say something?

"Hn," he grunted, as if I said something again.

I stared at him, wide-eyed, before something clicked in me. Oh god, is my I-wanna-think-but-I-accidentally-say-it-out-loud-when-I'm-pissed-and-annoyed syndrome acting up again?

He set the buret down, glared at me, and rubbed his eyes within three seconds. As I heard a sigh, I turned my head towards Neji's direction. I blinked at him, and he nodded.

. . . Oh.

Oh god.

This was bad.

"Tch," Uchiha spat beside me, not looking up, "annoying."

. . . Excuse me?

"You heard."

I huffed in anger, not realizing that Yamato-sensei was at the front was and trying to get my attention. Crossing my arms, I turned my head away from me and glared at the ceiling childishly. "I'm not annoying." I retorted. I heard him snort. Or 'hmph', I really couldn't tell the difference.

He suddenly moved to the chemical box on the table and opened, and I finally realized the flask he had been working with before was sizzling a purple color. I looked at my chemistry book to see the next step, then looked at Yamato-sensei sheepishly as he glared at me slightly. I mouthed a 'sorry', and he looked away to instruct us on our next step.

I sighed as I watched Uchiha take another chemical from the box and poured some into a buret. He hadn't let me do any work, yet. I mean, I don't wanna seem like I'm useless and can't do anything. Should I ask him to let me do this?

He glared at me, then set the chemical down and pushed the buret towards me. I blinked at it for a small moment.

Well okay then!

Slowly, as I listened to Yamato-sensei babble about how we have to do this very slow or else it will blow up -yeah right, like it'll actually _blow up_-, I rose the buret to the sizzling flask, waiting to pour the chemical in. Suddenly, Uchiha snorted, making me look at him in confusion.

"What?" I snapped, wondering what I did now. He didn't turn to me.

"You're looking as if this was some mission."

"Yeah, well, this is a science mission."

He snorted again, letting out a 'hn' in the process. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What does that even mean?" I asked, and started to slowly tilt the buret as Yamato-sensei instructed. Uchiha gave a small rise in one shoulder -his way of shrugging, I suppose-, but still didn't look at me. The liquid in my hands dripped into the flask slowly as it started to sizzle again, and the color suddenly turned into a bright orange color. It was a small moment after that I realized he hadn't answered me yet.

"Well. . .?" I prodded, raising my eyebrows. Over his hands -which were now clasped in front of his mouth as his elbows rested on the table-, he glared at me from the corner of his eyes.

I glared back, tipping the buret back when Yamato-sensei told us to pause and wait for the chemicals to calm down. "Did you even hear what I said?" I asked again, and his eyes narrowed even more.

"You're annoying."

I flinched in anger.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't let us go through this again."

I scoffed, tilting the buret again when Yamato-sensei told us to. "Yeah, well, you're a jerk!" I lamely retorted, heat crawling onto the skin of my neck. He seemed unaffected.

"Didn't we establish that a few weeks ago?" he coolly asked, his eyes already left from mine. "At least I'm not the one who's been acting pathetic as the rest of the people are."

My eyes widened, and my hand unconsciously tilted a bit to the left, causing the buret to clink with the flask. I didn't notice when the liquid sizzled even more. "Pathetic?" I repeated, my voice raising. "_I_ was the one visiting you and taking care of you for the past many weeks!"

"And you expect me to be thankful towards you when you got me into the situation?"

I neck flamed even more. "Hey, it was't exactly _my_ fault when you weren't paying attention to where you were walking that day. I was perfectly normal and innocent."

"If normal suggests that you are blind and couldn't see the stop sign right next to you, then I agree, you are very normal."

Anger bubbled through me as my hands shook and tilted even more. "You are the most jerkish person I have every met."

He finally looked at me, and his lips twitched up in dry amusement. "At least I'm not a stupid girl who can't even tell the difference between a real word and what's not."

I felt my jaw drop, my eyes widening even more, but couldn't hear the distant sound of someone calling my name. "I'm stupid?" I asked ridiculously, scoffing, "Have you been looking in the mirror lately?"

His lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes narrowed incredibly as he hissed and grabbed my wrist. "Shut up."

"I'm not the one who started it."

"Sakura, stop!"

And that's when Uchiha and I both gasped as he pulled my wrist away and the flask exploded in red flames.

* * *

Have I mentioned that chemistry class was fun? I've mentioned it before, right?

Yeah, well, I TAKE IT BACK! IT TOTALLY SUCKED!

I mean, _hello_, I was _totally_ okay before that _jerk_ started to _insult_ me and _made_ me mess up the whole experiment by _blowing_ it up. _Blowing it up!_ I mean, the acid burned, it actually caught on fire, and then bursted into flames through the flask right in front of us! It could've killed me! (see that I didn't use 'us')

And now, I've got a detention. _Detention._ The first one in my life, actually, thanks to that _Uchiha_ person. So, the detention was cleaning the lab up during lunch. You know, just scrubbing the floor with a mop and wiping the tables. It wasn't that bad, actually; I do it all the time at home.

But the _problem_ was that I had to do it _with him._

. . . This. Was. Seriously. Shitty. Bad. Luck.

He didn't seem to be taking this in very good, either. I kinda feel for him. You know, since he just came back from recovering a car crash and now he's cleaning the room up for detention with the girl who ran into him? _Inhale, Sakura_. Yeah, I kinda feel for him.

Not that I wanna make him feel better, or anything.

So, now, he and I were rubbing the tables with damp wash cloth after we had scrubbed the floor clean. I honestly didn't see the point in this; there's still another class in the afternoon!

_But_, most of the mess was actually ours. Ha ha.

We remained silent as we dipped our cloth into the bucket of water and cleaned the desks, working our way to the back. He had already scrubbed five on his side and I was on my fourth. Two more to go, and I'm done!

Suddenly, he slapped the cloth on the sixth table and sighed.

I looked at him carefully, studying. He didn't look particularly angry, just tired, and my hand automatically rubbed circles over the tables while I cleaned it. He caught my eye suddenly and glared.

"What?" he snapped, clearly angry now. I flinched in slight shock, but then realized I had nothing to be afraid of.

"Nothing," I said, trying to sound innocent, "you just look tired."

"Why do you care?" he spat, and began to clean his last table as his eyes left from mine. I shrugged, thought he probably didn't see.

"I never said I did. But it's called being considerate, you know? You should try it sometime."

He 'hn'ed again, and I felt a nerve pop.

Suddenly, his scrubbing slowed down, and he seemed to look thoughtful for a while. I looked at him curiously again, watching -almost amazement- as his brow-lines decreased and he was staring into space calmly. I only saw that expression on him when he was sleeping.

Wow. Multiple personalities, much?

He caught my eye again and glared; I immediately looked down. Then I noticed a black object dangling dangerously from his pocket, which I immediately recognized. "Your necklace is going to fall out if you keep it like that," I warned, and watched as his eyes narrowed in confusion before he looked down a stuffed his choker back into his pocket. He glared at me again.

"How do you know about it?"

I took a deep breath and tried to think of a lie. "It fell out in the hospital." I said. He looked at me warily before looking back down, and I gathered up some courage and decided to prod further. "Your brother gave that to you, right?"

He glared at me again, and I almost shrunk back in surprise. Was he always like this in real life? Cranky? Geesh. Abruptly, he sighed, and surprised me when he nodded. "Aa."

"Where is he now?"

He shrugged, as if he didn't care. I bit my lip and dared myself to go further.

"Does he know about what happened to your parents?"

He paused and looked at me again, glaring only slightly as if asking me how I had the guts to demand him that. But to my utter amazement, he still answered, "I don't know."

I nodded as if I understood, then pointed my finger at his pocket. "Why aren't you wearing it?"

He stopped cleaning the table and wiped his hand on a paper towel he tore of earlier in the bathroom. Then he leaned against a different desk and crossed his arms, looking at me with his obsidian eyes. "Does it bug you?"

I tried to look taken back. "I was just asking a question."

"It gets annoying."

I smirked cockily, "Why? 'Cuz it's pointy?"

Surprisingly, he also gave me a lazy smirk. "Aa."

I stopped scrubbing the table and leaned my palm against it instead. "What are you going to do with the company? You're inheriting it, right?"

He was still expressionless when he shrugged a shoulder again, "My uncle's running it, now. I don't particularly care."

I narrowed my eyes. "That you're going to own one of the greatest industries in Japan?"

He narrowed his eyes as well. "After I graduate from college and get my degree. I'm just not worrying about it, right now."

I relaxed almost immediately, and frowned thoughtfully. "Huh, that makes sense."

He 'hn'ed, and changed positions by placing his hands in his pockets. I've noticed that he's not glaring at me anymore. And that he's actually answering my questions. Nice, Sakura, keep it up~

"Are you excited?" I suddenly asked, smiling at him while he rose an eyebrow at me.

"Of what?"

"Running the business!"

"It's a pretty boring job."

Taken back, I retorted, "It's one of the most _important_ jobs! What are you, a real ice cube?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, again, only this time I realized it was slightly teasing. "You get excited too easily."

"At least I have enthusiasm."

He smirked again, "Aa."

"The nurses treated you well after I was gone, right?"

At this, he sighed, looking slightly irritated. "Are you just going to bombard me with questions every three seconds?"

"Hey, you should feel honored that I'm even talking to you!"

He went back to cleaning silently, and when I realized that he wasn't going to answer me for I while, I went back to work. A minute later, he walked towards me and placed his bucket of water on the floor, glancing at mine next to me. "Are you almost done yet?"

I smirked at him after I started cleaning my last table, placing my fists on my hips. "Who's asking the questions, now?"

His eyes narrowed.

"You should wear the necklace today," I suddenly said, and he looked at me in confusion. Not bothering to wait for him to answer, I made a gesture with my finger around my neck. "It matches your outfit."

His eyes darted down a split second before coming back to my face again. This time, he had another lazy smirk on his face. "You really are annoying."

My jaw dropped, and I soaked my fingers in water before flicking it towards him. Now he was the one who looked shocked.

"What. Are. You-"

"That's what you get for calling me annoying," I cut in, sticking my tongue out as I watched his gaze turn into a glare. He was angry, but surprisingly, I wasn't scared.

"And you'll get much more," he threatened, suddenly dipping his hand in water and flicking it all over my body. I gasped and yelped slightly and fought back.

"Stop that, Uchiha!" I threatened, already jumping away from his attacks. I dashed to the other side of the table as he cupped a handful of water and splashed it on me. I screamed.

"Sasuke," he suddenly said, face serious, and I blinked at him through already-wet eyelashes.

"Huh?"

"My name is Sasuke." he said, and splashed more water onto me.

It wasn't too long before I was soaked and laughing, and his face and shirt were stained with droplets as he smirked.

* * *

_Wow, this chapter was so long! I never realized how long it would be when I started it. Pretty cool, actually._

_So, I know the characters are probably a little OOC (didn't I say this before?), but well, hopefully it's still okay. Like I said, there are times where the real characters do annoy me, like Sasuke's coldness, Naruto's loudness, and Sakura's annoying. . . ness. (?) But yeah, I hope it's still okay._

_Also, I don't completely know how the Japanese education system works, so I kinda took my high school system instead. It's a lot busier and difficult, that's all I really know. So, I hope that's okay, too!_

_Looking forward for your reviews! That'll make me very happy!_


	6. Chapter 5

_I am sooo sorry for not updating for so long! I got caught up in a bunch of other things. So sorry!_

_Thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter! And read it, of course. If you see any major mistakes -or minor, in that case- PLEASE tell me, and I'd be glad to correct it. :)_

_Disclaimer: Read the previous chapters. -sigh- And happy new year!_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

The girls and I just went shopping today for the dance later this week. Since it only happened once a year -and us being girly girls and all-, we cannot wait until friday, where we can where dresses and makeup and all those other stupid crap.

Yes, I'm girly, but makeup can be really crappy. Ino is the one who loved it, really. Tenten practically wore none.

Anyways, back to the dance.

"They should totally construct more dances like these, you know?" Ino said to us as we walked -elbows linked- around in the mall. All of us already had two bags in hand. "I mean, they shouldn't just let us focus on our studies. It's just annoying."

"They want us to go to college, mostly," Tenten said, one eyebrow raised, "and not 'wasting' time on playing or fooling around, all the time."

"Well, BS," Ino said, earning a disapproving look from Hinata. "Not fair. We're girls, what do expect us to do? Lock ourselves in our rooms and read all the time? Psh."

"That's what you think, Ino," I said, smiling, and pushed her teasingly, dragging the others in the process as they yelped and laughed. Ino stuck her tongue out at me.

"By the way," she suddenly said, looking at me curiously, "what's going on with you and Uchiha? He seems so much ni- er, I don't think that's the right word. Tolerable. Yeah, more tolerable lately."

I rose an eyebrow at her. "Nothing's going on. Sasuke's just forgiven me for running over him. Well, mostly anyway-"

"Ha!" Tenten suddenly yelled, pointing a finger at me as Hinata jumped, "you said 'Sasuke', without any suffixes! What's with that?"

I shrugged. "I just did it; he sort of, uh, _commanded_ me to call him that." Then I smiled, "He's actually much nicer than you think."

"Woah, slow down there, lovebird," Ino said as she rose a palm; I glared. "It's just two weeks. How did you get so close to him in two weeks?"

"Don't we go over this _every day_?" I asked exasperatedly, slouching my shoulders. "It's not exactly fair to focus on me all the time. Hey, what about you, huh? What's going on with you and Sai?"

Ino looked away stubbornly, then turned her head back with a sly grin. "Nothing much," she replied, and smiled cheekily, "we've just raised our level to FWB's now."

. . . FWB?

. . . Oh. Oh! Wow, typical Ino.

The hell.

"Shouldn't have asked that," I muttered, and Hinata suddenly leaned against Tenten.

"My cousin's been acting much happier, lately," she said, smiling softly. "Is there anything we should know about?"

Tenten shook her head. "No."

And, of course, we were all sent into a friendly bicker once more.

* * *

"You're annoying."

I pouted, huffed, and crossed my arms.

"But it's not fair! I wanna do it! You never let me do it!"

He glared at me. "The last time you did it, you blew it up."

"Because you were distracting me!"

He looked away. "Hn."

Sighing for the umpteenth time, I leaned back against my chair and watched as he poured the chemical into the flask with upmost concentration. Now that we became friends -even though Sasuke never actually agreed with me, saying 'hn' when I asked him-, we talked a lot more, and we start to tease each other. He was even becoming protective over me.

Like this, for instance. Oh yeah, it's definitely protectiveness.

"Sasuke, let me do it." I ground out once more. He glared at me.

"No."

I took a deep breath, and whined, "Sasuke-kun!"

He twitched in irritation, and looked at me with annoyed eyes, "Don't. Call. Me. That."

I stuck my tongue out. "Only if you let me do it."

Looking away, he finished his work. "No."

God damn it.

"Good, now watch the chemical reaction and write it down in your notebooks," Yamato-sensei instructed. I sighed, giving up finally, and leaned forward to stare at the coloring flask. Sasuke suddenly chuckled. An amused snort, that is. I turned my head to look at him.

"What?"

He smirked lazily, leaning his elbows on the table. "Being a ninja, again?"

I puffed out my cheeks, blushing, and glared at him obstinately, "Of course I am." Then I whipped my head around as he raised an eyebrow, and turned to the board with his pencil to his lips.

Half an hour later, we cleaned up the lab and relaxed, waiting for the lunch bell to ring. I chattered happily with Naruto and the rest, still sitting next to Sasuke who had plugged his earphones into his ear, listening to music. Naruto suddenly shifted his attention from Hinata to me.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, you're going to the dance this friday, right?"

I nodded, smiling. "Of course I am."

His eyes suddenly went into slits as he gave me a gigantic grin. "Would you like to go with me?"

Beside me, Hinata and Sasuke both stiffened at his question, and I stared at him in slight shock. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hinata relaxing disappointingly. I immediately leaned back against her in comfort.

"I'm going with the girls," I changed the subject, smiling apologetically, "I mean, we'll see you there, right?"

"Well, I was kinda wondering if you'd like to go with me as a date."

"No."

. . . Uh, that did _not_ come out of my mouth.

I don't think.

The three of us whipped our heads around to stare at Sasuke while Neji leaned back against the opposite table in interest. Naruto suddenly glared.

"I wasn't asking _you, _Teme."

Sasuke took out his earphones and looked at Naruto lazily. "Sakura was obviously rejecting you. Why are you pushing her?"

"Sakura-chan wasn't even saying anything before you cut in."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "She was going to say no."

"But I didn't ask you."

Seeing that this was gonna get kinda serious, and leaned forward and waved my hands. "Hey, hey! Let's not argue about this, 'k? Naruto," he looked at me expectantly and smiled, "are you sure you want me as a date? I mean, you can bring Hinata with you. I'm actually not completely sure if I'm going; there's a test in Japanese next week."

He looked at me in question. "But you always pass those tests."

"I just wanna have one-hundred percent confidence."

Naruto's face fell slightly, but he still seemed to have faked a smile when he looked at Hinata. "Well, Hinata-chan, would you like to go with me, then?"

Beside me, Hinata immediately brightened, blushing as she nodded at him. "I-I'd love to, Naruto-kun."

Neji suddenly glared at him. "Don't you dare do anything funny, Uzumaki, or I'll snap your neck."

Naruto stuck his chin up arrogantly. "Lighten up, Neji."

The bell rang, and Naruto immediately jumped up, waved at us, and dashed out of the room. Hinata picked up her -and Naruto's- books slowly, smiling at me thankfully as she walked away with Neji, who gave me a nod and a small smile before leaving the class. I turned to Sasuke expectantly.

"What was that?"

He didn't look at me as he gathered his books and papers, stuffing them in his bag. "What?"

"Why did you interrupt me when I was about to answer Naruto?"

He looked at me then, quirking an eyebrow. "You were about to say no, anyways. I'm just being more direct. You'd probably take ages saying it."

"Yeah, well, psh, I can take care of myself."

He gave me an amused smirk, but then looked away. "Hn."

Frowning, I stood up after I picked up my bag and shook it around my shoulder. I watched as a few girls bid farewell to Sasuke shyly before walking away. Sasuke looked completely unaffected.

"So, are you going to the dance?"

He shrugged a one-shoulder shrug, slung his bag over his shoulder, and started to walk out of the room. I caught up to him hurriedly, jumping to meet his long strides. "Well, so, are you?" I asked again, leaning forward to look at his face. His eyes dashed to mine for a split of a second before looking ahead again.

"Hn."

I narrowed my eyes. That's really getting on my nerves. "What?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

He sighed, "You're really annoying."

My neck heated up as I glared at him for a few seconds and looked away stubbornly, crossing my arms. "Yeah, well, you're a jerk."

I heard him make a a sound -which I assumed was a chuckle- and watched him smirk from the corner of my eyes. "I'm pretty sure we've established that a long time ago." I was about to retort before he looked at me lazily and held and hand up. "You talk too much." I shut my mouth and glared. "Meet me at the gates after school. We're doing our project at my place today." My eyes widened.

. . . His house? His _house_? _His_ house?

_Shut up, Sakura. You really _are_ annoying._

"But, wait, huh?"

He turned around and looked at me over his shoulder. "I'll meet you there." Then he disappeared.

. . . That. . . meanie.

_A _hot_ meanie._

_

* * *

_

Holy. . .

Holy. . .

Holy shi-

_No, Sakura! No swearing! Sasuke doesn't like swearing girls!_

Eh?

Beside me, Sasuke sighed and tugged on my arm, dragging me to the _enormous_ gates to his house. Or, should I say, _mansion_?

His fancy, staggering, abnormally _huge_ mansion.

"Close your mouth," Sasuke commanded, punching some numbers in to open the gates. "You're catching flies."

I tried, failed, and watched as he sighed again and closed them for me with his hand.

Oh wow. I must've looked like a complete idiot.

"This is the outside of your house?" I asked incredulously, looking around as he dragged me through the gates and into the front yard. Oh wow.

"Hn," he grunted, looking ahead and unaffected when a lady in a maid outfit came out to welcome us, taking our bags and offering us tea. He then opened the gigantic door and led me in.

Scratch that mansion thing. This was a _castle_.

"This is the inside of your house?"

He sighed and let my hands go, rubbing his eyes. "You know, that _really _gets annoying."

I smiled sheepishly at him and laughed, "Sorry." I looked around, lifting my head to study the fancy chandelier on the ceiling and the beautiful carvings in the wall. This was magnificent, sure, probably five million times bigger than my house -and, mind you, I'm not poor-, but it didn't look Japanese at all.

My eyes then caught a picture of a dark-haired woman hanging on one of the walls.

"That was my grandmother," Sasuke interrupted my thoughts, looking at the painting with me. "She was from Germany. This house was hers and her husband's a long time ago, and now it belongs to me, so not everything is Japanese here."

Oh, that made sense. And also, Sasuke looked slightly German, with his dark hair and pale skin and all. I wouldn't be surprised.

He caught my eye and smirked, then turned abruptly and walked through one of the doors. I blinked at his retreating figure for a second before deciding to change into slippers and hurry after him.

The living room, unsurprisingly, was gorgeous, with golden decorations and marble floors. Even the furnishing was beautiful and looked overpriced. I noticed our backpacks sitting on one of the couches.

"This is your-" Sasuke immediately glared at me and shut me up. I smiled sheepishly again. "Sorry."

The previous maid walked back in again, holding a tray with some tea and sugar. She smiled sweetly at me, then looked at Sasuke, and left the room, leaving me in utter bemusement. I turned my head to see Sasuke sitting down on the couch and sigh, leaning his head back with his arms on either sides of him. Then he raised his head and looked at me expectantly.

My eyes widened in realization, and I bounced over to him, than sat on the comfortable furnish he called a couch. I bounced a few times childishly.

Then I turned my head to look at him while he stared back amusingly. "What?" I countered, pouting. He smirked, leaned forward and patted me on the head like a little child, and started to take his books out from his backpack.

* * *

Halfway through our project report, I leaned back and took a few sips from my cup of tea, then sighed. I watched as Sasuke looked at his paper with his elbows on his knees and his pencil to his lip, looking thoughtful. Should I ask him to take a small break?

He turned his head to me with his eyes narrowed, then sighed, dropped his pencil on the table, and crossed his arms behind his head as he sat back in his seat.

My inner is definitely making the best of me.

_Hell yeah, I am!_

"How much do we have left?" I asked, flipping through the pages of our textbooks. He shrugged slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his head a few times.

"Not much. No hurry. Due in three weeks."

I gave him a weird look.

"Aren't you at least a _bit_ nervous about your inheritance?" I suddenly asked as I crossed my arms and leaned back on the couch as well. He grunted at me, closing his eyes.

"You know."

"Is it possible to inherit the whole company at such a young age?"

"It's not impossible; just probably not the whole company right after college." he opened his eyes and reached for his tea, taking a sip. "After I get my MBA, though, I can probably get it."

"Why can't. . ." I started, then trailed off, hesitant on whether I should ask him the question. He spared me a small glance, and placed his tea back on the table.

"We have absolutely no idea where he is." he replied, saving myself from asking. "That man is probably forming some rebellious group against the country in Switzerland somewhere."

"Why Switzerland?"

He gave me a look, in which I blinked back in confusion, before he sighed and rubbed his eyes, leaving me in bemusement before a maid -was she there before?- behind us giggled and brought in a tray of snacks. Holy cow. He eats _those_ as snacks?

"He just made a joke, Sakura-san, laugh."

I blinked.

* * *

"So a business manager, huh? Suits you. You're very. . . business-y."

Sasuke rose a delicate eyebrow at me. "'Business-y'?"

I glared at him and pouted. "What? Can't make up my own words?"

"Hn," he grunted, smirking slightly as he took a gulp from his now-filled-with-coffee cup. His finger brushed against the side of it, and he swore as he dropped it to the table and blew his hand.

"Put it against your ear!" I exclaimed, dropping my cup as well. "It helps." He did, and pinched his ear with his burnt finger and thumb, before relaxing and sighing against his hand. I gave him a satisfied smile before reaching forward and taking a small cake from the snack tray. "When I grow up," I said, "I'm gonna be a doctor."

"Finally admit you're a child, now?" He asked, smirking, before I frowned and glared at him, pouting.

"You're mean."

"Why a doctor? Isn't global population already an issue? Why are you still saving the lives of people who are killing the planet?"

. . . Huh. I never thought about it that way.

"That's just not kind!" I exclaimed, almost spitting out the cream in my mouth. "Everyone is important to some one, whether they are related in the blood or not. Everyone has a purpose to be alive. And besides, aren't you killing the planet right now?"

He grunted, dropping his hands, and watched them on his lap. "I'm not hurt."

"Yet, if you were, I'd be saving you. Because you are important." I gave him a smile, my eyebrows raised, and set my chin in my hand. "You can't just think about disasters, just because that may the first that comes in mind when something bad happens. You'll have to think about others and be considerate; that's why I want to do what I'm going to do. I mean, why'd you think the doctors healed you back and I took care of you after your crash?"

"_You_ were the one who ran into me."

I frowned. "You just totally ruined the moment." I looked at my watch before closing my book, stretching my arms out in front of me as I gave out a content groan. Then I rolled my head a few times. "Wanna go out for a minute? This place is great, but I feel weird in it."

"Don't become one of my fangirls now," he said, smirking, and stood up from his seat. "I would probably dump you halfway on the street and leave you to defend for yourself if you get on my nerves."

"Oh yeah, sure, I've always known you were that heartless, Sasuke-_kun_." He gave me a glare, then turned on his heels as he directed me to the front of his house.

* * *

"Why don't you get strawberry? Strawberry is good!"

"It's pink."

I frowned at him.

"What? Got a problem with that?"

He gave me a smirk and licked his vanilla cone. "It reminds me too much of you."

That made me frown even more.

We walked down the street with our own cones in hand, and watched as the sun started to set. Although it's half way through the year and we're all graduating soon, I couldn't help but feel really sad. I've already gotten my acceptance letter to a private college in Tokyo, but I wouldn't know if I'd be able to see all my friends again. Speaking of college, which one was Sasuke accepted to?

"Where are you going to college?" Sasuke suddenly asked, which startled me because he wasn't usually the one who starts conversations. I blinked at him.

"Aoyama." I replied, holding my cone close to my mouth. "You?"

"Tsuda." He replied, ignoring me as my eyes widened and I started beaming.

"Then we're in the same city!"

He looked at me and gave me a small smirk. "Aa."

"Do you think we'll be able to see each other? I mean, Tokyo's big, but it's not big enough that we'll get lost and not be able to find each other! There's plenty of public transportations, and I have a car, and you'll probably get a car, too, because you're so rich, and maybe we can even visit out other friends together! Or-"

"Stop it, Sakura, you're rambling like an old lady."

. . . Ha. Ha. That's very funny.

"I agree with Naruto now," I said, and stuck my tongue out at him, though unable to contain the smile stretching out on my lips. Although both universities we were attending to were private and not very close, at least we were in the same city, which was good enough for me. I wonder about my other friends. Ino might not even be going to college, since she wanted to be a model -and she would probably do great at that- and Hinata is going to some other private school we haven't talked about yet. Tenten told me she might be going to this other public school somewhere north of Japan, and as for Naruto. . .

. . . I have no idea what his plans are. Hopefully he'll go to college.

"So we're all going to college next year, huh?" I asked, smiling, before turning my head to looking at the coloring sky. "Time really does go too fast."

"Aa."

"Are you going to celebrate it at all?"

"No. Why? It's just a year closer to death."

. . . "Wait. . . How old are you?"

He gave me a teasing glare before he grunted and licked his cone again.

"The dance is a way to celebrate it, isn't it?" I asked hopefully, tasting my cone as I gave him my wide-eyed puppy stare. He looked at me, tensed -making me slightly confused- before looking away abruptly.

"It's stupid."

My jaw dropped. "Uhuh," I said stubbornly, scoffing once at him, "_You're_ stupid!"

He glared. "I don't understand why you make such a big deal out of these things."

"Because it's rare."

"Seeing a peacock jump off a building is rare, and is that _exciting_?"

I glared at him as well.

"Why won't you go?" I asked, and pointed a finger at him when he sighed. "And don't say because it's stupid."

"There's nothing to do," he finally said after a small moment. "And I have other things tplanned."

"Like. . .?"

He narrowed his eyes immensely, "You're annoying _and _persistent."

"Please?"

"No."

"_I'm_ going!"

"I thought you said you weren't."

"That's just an excuse for Naruto so he would take Hinata as his date. You know she likes him."

"I also know Naruto's an idiot."

"Why won't you have some fun? I'm sure a lot of people are going."

"Including annoying women."

I sighed, nodding my head sarcastically. "Yes, yes, and there is the annoying women."

"I'll go," he said abruptly, making me look at him in shock, "if you go with me."

". . . Okay? Sure, I'm going anyway. I've even went shopping with the girls earlier and got an epic-" I paused, blinked, and stared at him. "Wait. . . Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"Did you just ask me out?"

As if to prove a point, he smirked, leaned towards me, and licked the other side of my cone.

"You're annoying."

And that was how I got my first 'date' with the mean Uchiha.

* * *

_So, I didn't say it was an actual date, because it probably isn't, (probably?) but still, hope you still liked it._

_I PROMISE I'll publish the next chapter sooner, and not in a freakin month. I mean, I don't even like waiting for others to update their stories, and I don't wanna do that to my own readers. Please leave a comment, though!_

_Happy 2011 everyone!_

_ALSO! I'm taking requests on writing stories. If you want a one-shot, or a very short story (like 2 or 3 chapters), you can send me a message or leave it in a review, which I'll probably get rid of if it has nothing to do with this story. Check my profile on what categories I could write (which are my favorite animes or books, by the way), but I prefer writing about anime. Hee. Thanks all!_


	7. Chapter 6

_Sorry for disappearing, again. I honestly have no excuse for being gone for so long. This chapter is dedicated for all those that have reviewed this story so far; thanks guys, I really appreciate it._

_Disclaimer: Just go look in the dictionary if you don't know what it means. ;)_

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Sakura-san!"

"Hide me!"

I immediately turned around ducked behind Sasuke as a shield.

He stiffened when my hands came in contact with his back, but rather then stepping away, he stood there like a -duh, so hothot_hot_- statue and stared ahead as Bushy-brows Lee ran towards us. I could hear the confusion laced in the young man's voice.

"Uchiha-san," he greeted; Sasuke grunted in return, "hasn't Sakura-san just been here a moment ago? Have you seen her?"

I could also feel Sasuke's glare. "No," he said. "Why?"

"No reason; I would just like to greet the youthful and beautiful lady. I found these roses in the garden that I would like to give to her."

. . . Oh no. . .

Sasuke grunted, again. "I haven't seen her."

"Sakura-chan!"

. . . Oh my god; go to hell, Naruto!

Naruto stopped behind me with an eyebrow quirked up confusingly, tilting his body so he can see my reddened face. I felt like pounding him. "What are you doing?"

"Sakura-san is behind Uchiha-san?" Lee inquired, and I sighed as I stood up straight and turned around to glare at Naruto.

"I hate you," I growled at him. He blinked in return.

"Sakura-san!" Lee said as he rounded Sasuke who seemed eager to step away, but whom didn't. I was itching to slide behind him, again, but I still smiled stiffly and waved at Lee. He then thrusted a small bouquet of red roses into my face, and I leaned back. "For you, my blossoming flower!" He said, red tinting his cheeks.

I stared at the flowers. Sasuke stared at the flowers. Naruto stared at the flowers and me. Lee stared at me.

Wow. . . this was awkward.

I hesitantly took the roses from him and smiled, even though I felt like screaming and crying and fuming at the same time. Lee's smile widened. "Th-thanks, Lee."

Blushing, Lee did an incredibly low bow, then came back up and stood as straight as an arrow and _oh my god, does he have _tears_ in his eyes_? Sometimes, I don't understand how Tenten and Neji can be such good friends with him. "My pleasure, Sakura-san! I am really glad you like it." He then bowed to Naruto and Sasuke, "Please take good care of Sakura-san as she goes home. You have my gratitude!" And with one last glance at me, he ran away to the soccer field.

I stared at his retreating figure. Sasuke stared at his figure. Naruto stared at his figure and me.

Then I started shaking and I bowed my head.

"Aw, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined, gripping my shoulder. "You should have told me you liked roses! Then I would've given them to you a long time ago, and now you're crying because you like it so much! God, I wish _I_ knew. I mean, how did Bushy-brows get in front of me? Huh? Huh?"

"No," I sniffed, shaking my head as tears rolled down my cheeks. I stuffed the flowers into Naruto's arms as he stared at me in confusion. "I'm allergic to them."

. . .

Sasuke and Naruto both gawked at me as I sniffed a few more times and wiped the tears off from my face. Sasuke suddenly glared at Naruto. "Go away."

Naruto stuck his chin out as Sasuke pulled on my arm and further away from him. Stubbornly, he placed his hands on his hips where the roses were now dying from no oxygen.

Er, well, whatever flowers need to survive.

"I get to walk Sakura-chan home, today!" He said, and Sasuke grunted. "I mean, you've been _driving_ her home for the past month! That's not fair."

"It's not because it's _fair_, Dobe," Sasuke said, somehow managing to find a handkerchief from his pocket. I stared at it. A handkerchief? Who used handkerchiefs, these days? I took it anyway and wiped my face. "Sakura doesn't want to walk with you because you're too loud and annoying."

"Tch," Naruto spat, now crossing his arms, "I treat Sakura-chan way better than you do, Teme."

Sasuke's phone then rang, and he looked grim as he pulled it out of his pocket. He stared at the screen of his Blackberry –_Blackberry;_ ugh, lucky– and surprised me when his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he turned away. "Do whatever you want," he said to -I'm assuming- Naruto, and steered away. I stared at his retreating figure in shock. Apparently, he's angry, better not bug him now. It wasn't like he'd tell me, anyway.

Naruto blinked at me, "What was _that_ all about?" He inquired. I shook my head.

"Dunno."

Suddenly, he smiled, and crossed his arms behind his head with the flowers still in his hands, "Well, yay! Now I have Sakura-chan all to myself! I'll walk you home, Sakura-chan, and protect you from evil squirrels or birds or babies!"

I glared at him before I sighed and placed my hands on my hips. "Throw away the flowers first, Naruto." I said, then he nodded cheerfully and ran to the nearest trashcan.

I looked at the entrance where Sasuke was currently exiting through.

* * *

"You never told me you were _that_ afraid of Bushy-brows," Naruto said as we walked towards the direction of our houses. Although Naruto's apartment with his godfather, Jiraiya -who was a _huge_ pervert, mind you, one of the reasons I don't really go to Naruto's place that often- was closer to the school than my house, it was still on the same route, just in different areas. Naruto smiled cheekily at me, "He's not _that_ bad, is he?"

I glared at the road ahead of me and huffed, "Try having a thick-browed, enthusiastic _youth_ following you around the library when he first spotted you, then have him ask you out for the next _week_ endlessly because he had nothing to do! I mean, yeah, he's nice and all, but it's just. . . freaky." I turned to him and gave him a look. "Freaky," I repeated.

Naruto laughed, his voice loud and clear as we stepped onto a small path near a small river. It was a park, really, because there was a playground and a lot of children around, and I loved taking this road when I walk home instead of driving. Naruto's apartment was also just a block down the road. His laughter died down, but his smile remained. "I'm not freaky, Sakura-chan!"

I rolled my eyes and laughed once. "Of course you're not, Naruto."

"Sakura-chan," I looked at him, curious, his tone suddenly more serious than before as he halted to a stop. He was still smiling, but it was more hopeful than happy. "I'm serious," _No kidding_, "I'm not freaky, and I'd take better care of you then either Bushy-brows _or_ Teme." Huh? What does Sasuke have to do with this?

I blinked at him, dumbly, still utterly and idiotically confused. "Huh?"

"Bushy-brows is weird, Teme is rude, and whatever guy that is interested in you is only going for your looks or your intelligent-ness." He paused, quirking an eyebrow, "Is that even a word?" Before I could reply, he opened his mouth again, "I may seem stupid sometimes, but I'm stupid enough that I can't make you happy."

I gaped at him slightly and shook my head in uncertainty, "But you already make me happy."

Naruto shook his head and placed both hands on my shoulders firmly, his smile disappearing now. "I love you, Sakura-chan."

. . .

. . . . .

_What_ did he just say?

"I mean, I know you know I've always had a crush on you," he said sheepishly, taking one hand away and scratching his head. "But I feel like I'm good enough now to be something more to you and make you happier _that_ way, ya know?" No. No I _don't_ know. "I didn't mean to scare you, or anything!" he suddenly added, then looked at me in concern. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

"Uh. . ." was my intelligent reply, my mouth opening and closing like a trying-to-breath fish. Naruto suddenly laughed.

"If you. . . if you need time to think," he said, a bit embarrassed as he turned his head away, "I'll definitely wait."

Frantically, I nodded my head, twitching in shock and heart thumping from his confession. I could already feel my face heating up. Fortunately, Naruto caught the hint and stood up straighter. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded again, smiling tensely, "Bye, Naruto," I finally croaked out, and he turned on his heels as he walked down the rest of the 1,000 feet towards his apartment as he left me to stand and think.

Naruto. . . Yes, I've always known that he liked me a bit more than a friend. But _love_?

I suddenly saw Sasuke.

Blinking in confusion, I watched as he pulled on his collar before pivoting his arm out towards the lake, giving out a scream of frustration. He crouched forward and leaned his hands against his knees, panting, and didn't seem to notice me when he stood up later and ran down the path I was taking. I knew he was too fast for me, and I didn't want to call for him. Instead, I walked towards the spot where he last stood.

The necklace that his brother gave him sunk to the bottom of the lake.

* * *

"The report is due tomorrow, and I expect a one thousand word essay when it's handed in. Class dismissed."

All of us groaned at the large amount of homework given to us on a monday.

"Kakashi-sensei," Ino mumbled, stuffing her homework away. "He's hot and cool and all, but he's really a prick."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "I don't think that's an appropriate thought for a teacher, Pig."

She rolled her eyes.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Sasuke walk out of the room with Naruto trailing behind him, exclaiming something about ramen tonight. Tempted to reach into my pocket and return his necklace to him, I shook off the thought and took my things out of the room to my locker. Strange, Sasuke disappeared.

I sighed and started packing my backpack.

"Oh my god," I suddenly heard Karen squeal behind me, "did you see that hot guy at the front gates? He looks just like Sasuke-kun!"

I tensed and paused.

"Yeah! God, I want their genes," another girl said, sighing dramatically along with a few of her other friends. "What's he doing here, though? Is he actually Itachi-kun? I thought he was part of some gang or something. . ."

I watched as the few girls retreated down the hallway and their conversation became too quiet for me to hear.

I walked towards the front gates thoughtfully while fingering Sasuke's necklace in my pocket, biting my lip nervously. Should I talk to Sasuke? Or Itachi, even? I don't wanna hurt myself; I don't even know the poor guy. And if he really was part of a rebellious gang-

"Oof!"

. . . Speaking of being part of a gang. . .

Abnormal crimson eyes stared as me as a hand steadied my wavering figure, large hands clasping my elbows. He completely towered over my figure – which wasn't actually that petite. An almost-complete replica of Sasuke stood before me and stared, save for the deep creases underneath his eyes and the fact that his hair was longer and lighter. I gulped, eyes widened, heart pounding furiously.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Both Itachi and I turned at the sound of Sasuke's outraged voice, his eyes colder and deadlier than I've ever seen them before. Suddenly aware of the fact that I'm still holding onto the older man's arms, I retreated as if he burned. Itachi remained passive as I stepped aside and looked at Sasuke fearfully. Students passing by were staring now, some murmuring, and I stepped towards Sasuke hesitantly and pulled on his backpack. He ignored me.

"We need to talk."

Sasuke scoffed uncharacteristically at his brother's answer. "There's nothing to be said. Go away and return to your idiotic group of rebels. What was the point of coming back here, anyway?"

"Sasuke, you need to calm down and listen-"

"Bullshit."

I looked at the two boys worriedly and pulled on Sasuke's bag harder. He finally looked at me through the corners of his eyes, "Go home, Sakura, you don't play a part in this."

"Don't go too far, Sasuke," I hissed, pulling at him again. "This is still on school grounds; you'll get in trouble."

"I just want to talk with him," Itachi said to me, stuffing his hands in his pockets. With one hand on Sasuke's right arm, I could feel his muscle tense as he clenched his fist. "This was all a big misunderstanding-"

"I don't care." Sasuke spat, almost growling. "Go away. I don't want to see you."

"Sasuke-"

"Don't make me punch you."

I tensed and pulled on him one last time.

Itachi finally sighed and glared at him. "Don't loose control so easily."

Sasuke smirked bitterly and pushed me to the side, much to my bemusement and shock. He pushed his other fist against his leg and cracked a knuckle. "I hate you and I'm warning you. Leave."

I watched as Itachi's eyes narrowed even more. "You're being too foolish."

Sasuke suddenly disappeared under my hand and was aiming for Itachi's jaw in a matter of seconds.

Students around gasped and backed off, unwilling to pass the gates now. I screamed for Sasuke to stop, and -thankfully- he missed his brother's face by an inch. Although the fight was turning much more serious and horrifying, I couldn't help and cease to be amazed at their moves and attacks. Or, in Itachi's case, defense. Itachi's right, Sasuke was being completely foolish now. This was the school for heaven's sakes! Surely whatever problem they have wasn't worth getting both of them in more trouble!

Many moments later, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Kakashi-sensei, although his gaze remained on the two brothers. Behind him stood a few other teachers and school staff members, most of them gasping. In the crowd, I even managed to find Naruto with Hinata and Ino, along with Shikamaru and a few others. However, they were too far in the crowd of students and were stuck. "What happened?" Kakashi asked, squeezing my shoulders.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I just bumped into. . .Uchiha-san and Sasuke came along. Then they started fighting."

The crowd suddenly gasped and I turned to see Sasuke punching the wall, and I assumed that that would be a broken bone or two. I grimaced. "Can you stop them?" I turned back to Kakashi-sensei. However, his head was turned back.

About five minutes later, Sasuke was restrained by Kakashi and Iruka-sensei, my former English teacher, and Itachi was behind Yamato. Tsunade-sama, our school's principle, stood between them but her back facing us.

"This is pathetic," I heard her yell, though barely audible through the sounds of the murmuring crowd behind me. "Uchiha Sasuke, you do realize what ground you are standing on now? You have broken one of the most important school rules, and for that you are in big trouble. You understand that, right?"

Sasuke looked piss as he backed up and was released by the two teachers.

"Uchiha Itachi-san," Tsunade-sama then turned, "I do realize you are not part of this school's authority and I have no right to punish for for the sake of this place. However, your behavior is also despicable, and I don't care if you touched Sasuke or not, you still must be punished."

Itachi looked calm as he bowed to her respectfully. "I understand."

"Tsunade-sama, it's best if we not deal with this issue here," Kakashi-sensei said, his heading pointing towards the gathered crowd behind me. "And you also have a meeting to attend to."

The principle sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her gaze suddenly turned towards me in curiosity. I looked at her in slight shock. "Haruno Sakura?"

I nodded, "Yes?"

She waved a hand towards Sasuke, "Bring Sasuke home; I'm sure you know where he lives, correct?"

"Uh. . . Yes."

She turned back to Sasuke. "I'll deal with you tomorrow and decide what punishment to give you."

Sasuke grunted and glared at the ground.

"As for Itachi-san-"

"I take full responsibility for this trouble and will contact you whenever it is convenient."

. . .He seemed _way_ too calm for this.

Tsunade-sama seemed to trust him. "Very well."

Kakashi-sensei ushered me towards them and handed me Sasuke's backpack. Sasuke wasn't bleeding anywhere I could see, but I'm sure his hands were. Gently, I placed a hand on his arm and tugged. "Sasuke."

He didn't look at me as we stumble through the gates and to his car.

* * *

He twitched slightly as I bandaged his knuckles, which were swollen and bleeding from the punch on the wall. One finger was slightly fractured, but there was no severe damage as far as I can see. I want to become a doctor, so I know perfectly well of these things.

Gently, I patted the back of his hand.

"What happened?" I finally decided to ask, putting away the first-aid kit in the box. I nodded at the maid who appeared at the door and walked away. I turned back to Sasuke and inquired again, "What's going on between you two?"

Sasuke stood up from the bed and wrung his wrist around, testing it. He turned away from me, "None of your business."

I glared at his back. "It's so my business. I'm your friend; you have to tell me something."

"Something," he repeated and glared at me from over his shoulder, "I'm not talking to you about this. Stop being so annoying."

At this, I bristled. Again the with the annoying thing, now?

I shut the first-aid box forcefully and scoffed. "Fine, don't tell me anything. It's not like you're hurting my feelings by keeping everything away from me and bottling your feelings. And it's not like I actually _care_ about your health if you continue holding back like this. Because friends don't care. They just don't. Especially towards the ones who want to receive special treatment by being _ignored_ and hurt all the time." I stood up and picked up my backpack from the floor. "Seriously, see if I care!"

. . .I can't believe he was still ignoring me.

I huffed and stalked towards the exit, the room shaking slightly as my feet stomped on the polished hard wood of his floor. Suddenly, Sasuke replied. "Itachi was there," he finally said, stopping my tracks at his door as I paused to listen. "He was there during the plane crash with my parents. They weren't in the same compartment, but he was still there."

I turned towards him slowly. Sasuke's back was still facing me. My one-shoulder backpack was sliding off my shoulder as I walked back towards him. "The crash was sudden, and when Itachi came across my parents who weren't in their seats then, he didn't help them put any oxygen masks. He also didn't help them onto the escape boat. They drowned when the plane sunk."

My eyes widened in horror. "What. . .what if he had a reason to not be _able_ to save them? What if he was helping someone else?"

Sasuke scoffed, "Who can be more important than his own _parents_?"

I frowned. "How did you know all this anyway?"

"My parents' friends survived. They told me."

. . .That's horrible.

Sasuke suddenly sat down at his desk and leaned back, sighing. A pregnant pause followed as I gulped and watched his worn figure against the leather chair, his head tilted back in exhaustion. I felt so bad for him. It's horrible for a person to loose their parents at such a young age. Sasuke even bore a lot of responsibility already.

I softly patted towards where he sat and wound my arms around his neck.

He tensed at the bold gesture, and his head jerked up a little and I rested my chin in his hair. Both my elbows were rested against his shoulders and my arms were tucked under and around his chin, hoping he could sense my apology. His hair smelt faint of shampoo and sweat. . .

This was Sasuke, the sad young man who had already endured so much pain yet bottled all of his troubles inside of him. He was cold, but he did so to not hurt his own friends' feelings and bring them down. I can't believe I ever thought he was an idiotic jerk before; he really was amazing.

As I lifted one hand and ran my fingers through the hair on the side of his head slowly, he relaxed under my touch, and his warm breath blew against the exposed skin of my arm. We remained like that for a moment, with him resting his chin on my limb and me messaging his skull. Many minutes later, I tentatively and softly planted a kiss in his hair.

I immediately missed his warmth as I backed up and pulled on my backpack that I dropped before I embraced Sasuke. He didn't move from his position, and I held my breath. He stopped me once more right before I left his room.

I turned my head back towards him when he called my name. "Yes?"

A sigh. A content one. "I'm glad you were here."

. . .

I smiled softly as I left the room.

* * *

_Okay, this story is turning out to be kinda boring. I mean, I had the plot planned out and stuff, and it was _supposed_ to be pretty cool, but my writing is just. . . horrible. And plain. And. . . just, bleh. I hope you guys still like this story, even if it's just a little._

_And I'll try to update sooner next time. So sorry for the delay!_


	8. Chapter 7

_This is one of my fastest updates yet! I'm so proud of myself. :) But still, I would've updated the story on Sunday if Fanfiction had LET ME LOGGED IN! Ugh, so many problems. (I still adore you though, Fanfiction)_

_And I'm also glad you readers are liking the story. Thanks, guys._

_Disclaimer: Well, I'm probably only going to say this three more times, so I do not own Naruto!_

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"Hmm," I looked at the red tomato in my hand, smiling. "Yeah, Sasuke's going to like this."

"Ugh, oh my god, are you looking at yourself, Sakura? You're buying him _tomatoes_? I can't believe you're buying him tomatoes!"

I turned to my right and glared at Ino, huffing. "He likes tomatoes, so I'm getting him some. Got a problem with that, woman?"

She smirked at me and rolled her eyes.

"And also, shouldn't you be focusing on your flowers?" I continued, placing a few more red fruits from the cart into my basket. "You really want some random robber come over and steal those things again?"

"For your information, there is no 'again'. The guy wasn't stealing the flowers. He was borrowing them, yeah? He was just taking a few because he was in a hurry and ran away because of that. He's gonna come back and pay the bill."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "That was three weeks ago, moron."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Don't judge me, Forehead."

"Oh my god, not with the nicknames again-"

"So! You guys are officially dating, huh?"

Ino's question gave me a double take and I looked at her in surprise. "What? Who? What? Huh?"

"Sasuke, you idiot, who else?" she rolled her eyes. "I mean, you're buying him tomatoes. You know, the icky stuff that he really likes? Yeah! You guys are totally dating."

"Buying him something he likes doesn't mean I'm dating him."

"You've kissed him, I bet."

I made a snort, though my heart was already beating a mile a minute. "And how would you know _that_?"

"You _look_ like you've already kissed him. Well, technically, you look like you've just been _kissed_, not necessarily by him. I mean, kissing Naruto definitely would not make you look like that. And-" she paused, then she looked at me in disgusted horror. "Oh my god. You didn't kiss _Naruto_, did you? How could you! That's, like, incest!"

"Naruto's not by brother."

"Well, he kinda is!"

"Ino, I went on a _date_ with him."

"Much to my disgust."

"And I love him. I do. But, yeah, just not in that way." I smiled at her softly. "He's a sweet guy. But he's not the sweet guy for me."

"Uh huh. The guy for you is more like an ego-centric, emo-ish, rude, brash, cold, quiet, and hot guy who goes to your school, grade, homeroom, and science class." she nodded and grinned triumphantly. "Yup, that's him. I'm an utter genius."

I rolled my eyes, again.

"So, you guys did kiss, right? I bet it was so sweet. Oh! I bet it was under the moonlight near a lake, with fireflies over the water, and the wind slowly blowing through your hair and his. And he looked absolutely breathtaking, and you finally told him you love him, and he also finally stepped towards you and cupped your face in his hands and took your breath away with his lips! Oh. That is just so romantic." she finished with a dreamy sigh and her hands clasped next to her face. Then she looked at me. "So? What was it like?"

I was slightly speechless, but I stilled managed out, "Yeah, you basically just said it."

. . . Did her eyes just _sparkle_!

"I am so proud of you, Sakura!" Ino exclaimed, and thumped me in the rear. I yelped and scowled at her. "That's the first step to a perfect relationship! Next, when you go to his house later, just go ahead and jump him! Yeah, rip his clothes off, girl!"

Ew. I think she just de-virginized my ears.

"Like I would do that," I muttered, rubbing my butt. "The only girl who's crazy enough to do that is you, Ino."

Instead of frowning, she actually grinned. "Yeah, that's right," she said. She actually looked proud.

"Look, I'm gonna go, okay?" I finally concluded, and walked to the woman who was taking care of this fruit cart in the first place. I handed her the tomatoes and she left to weigh it and give me the bill. "And you'd better get back to work, or your mom will be pissed. Again."

She laughed and waved like it was nothing wrong and placed her fists on her hips. "Don't worry, it's not like my mom would _do_ anything. I mean, she's too poised to even yell at me!"

"_Ino, get your butt back to the cash register now before I come over and rip your throat out!"_

The two of us stared at each other for a while before Ino sighed and turned to her shop across the street. "Got it, Mom!" she yelled back, and gave me a gloomy wave before treading back to her store. I smiled at her and shook my head.

"How much are these?" a deep voice asked from my left when the woman returned with a bag of my tomatoes. I froze.

"We have a sale today. It's 300 yen for three tomatoes," she replied, and I saw the man beside me lift one with his hand and squeeze it lightly. She returned her attention back to me and smiled as I paid her the price. "Thank you, Sakura. Come more often! You hardly shop here anymore."

I was shaking nervously now that she just said my name, and I laughed as I took the tomatoes and placed them in my basket. "I've been quite busy. I'll try to come more often. Thanks."

As quickly as I could, I shuffled to my right and walked away.

"Sakura, is it?" The-other-Uchiha suddenly caught up to me, holding a tomato in one hand. I stared at him incredulously and wondered how he paid that so fast. And he only got _one_? "Are you going to see Sasuke?"

I had stopped walking and was now gaping at him, my mouth was probably wide enough to catch flies. I noticed it and immediately closed it, gulping slightly as I looked up at him. Oh my god, I _swore_ he's, like, two feet taller than me.

Okay, maybe just one or so. But still! I'm not short!

He raised an eyebrow at me questionably and stopped rubbing his tomato clean. "I never said you were short," he said.

Oh, damn it. The speak-out-loud thing is happening again. Ugh, why does this always happen to me!

Itachi now only looked amused. "Yes?"

Holy crap.

"Um, yeah, I'm. . . visiting Sasuke," I said, clutching the basket closer to my body. The handle was probably ready to break any moment now. "Are you. . . going to see him, too?"

He shook his head and sighed, looking slightly despaired. "If I even step one foot into the house, he'd probably kick me out of it, right away," he said, and took a bite out his tomato thoughtfully as he looked at a café nearby. Wait, does the whole Uchiha family like to eat tomatoes?

Suddenly, he turned his head back to me and was smirking, making my stomach do a little flip. "No, actually, my mom hates these things. Sasuke and I get it from our dad."

I laughed at him sheepishly and suddenly felt like digging into a small hole.

"Do you. . . have some time?" he suddenly inquired, and looked at me doubtfully, his tomato halfway to his mouth. "Sasuke doesn't listen to me, but I'm sure he'd listen to you. And I'm sure you're curious as to what had really happened to us." He tilted his head to the side, and for a moment he looked younger and absolutely adorable. "Do you mind a little drink?"

Speechless, once more, I nodded at him without thinking and he looked relieved as he sent me a small smile. I swore those things are rare, just like Sasuke's. "A little coffee?"

I looked to the little shop he was looking at earlier before turning back to him and nodding, mind clear now. I sent him a small smile, as well. "Sure."

The next thing he said completely took my off guard as he stuffed one hand in his pocket and was already turned halfway. "It's a date, then."

I almost screamed.

* * *

"How did you and Sasuke meet?" Itachi started, once we got into a seat after a waiter asked for our beverages. It turned out to be that the shop wasn't a real café, per se, but a small restaurant that had waiters serve you actual sweets and cakes.

"It's, um, a pretty funny story," I replied, laughing sheepishly. He raised an eyebrow at me, as if daring me to go on. "I, er, sort of. . . ran over him with my car."

At this, he actually looked surprised. Then he smiled again – and it's totally not my fault that I swooned. You don't meet hot guys like _these_ everyday and have them _smile_ at you!- and slouched back against his seat as he looked at me thoughtfully. "My uncle did tell me about that. I'm surprised that Sasuke forgave you. He's never been a really forgiving person. I'm sure you know that."

I almost rolled my eyes. "Of course I do."

"Are you two dating?"

I did a double take, once more, and suddenly felt like I was reliving my conversation with Ino over again. Why did they keep asking me that?

I leaned back against my seat, too, and looked down at the table confusingly. "I don't really know."

"Oh?"

"We just kissed. But Sasuke's acting like it's never happened."

Itachi nodded as if it was the most normal thing in the world. I noticed that he'd finished his tomatoes, by now. "He does that, pretend that something important to him doesn't mean anything at all. He's always had a bad case of denial."

I smiled at him, relaxing now, and leaned forward to rest my elbows against the table. Who knew that the infamous Uchiha Itachi had such an affectionate humor?

"I really like him, though."

He looked slightly surprised, again, when he looked at me. Wow, do I have that kind of effect on other people? "Do you?"

I nodded. "I do," I replied, and suddenly felt very confused as to why I'm telling my true love's brother things like this. I smiled. "I know I like him. I also know I don't just like him because of his appearance and wealth. He's a really great guy, underneath all that layers of ice."

Itachi smirked and crossed his arms, the tension leaving his shoulders. He suddenly looked _very_ young now. Well, younger than a twenty-three year old. "I'm glad you think of him that way. Too many girls -and boys- swoon over him because of his looks. My brother deserves more than that."

"You really do love him, huh?"

He sighed and shrugged one-shoulder, just like Sasuke. "Doesn't really matter. Clearly, he doesn't think the same of me."

"Can you, um, tell me what happened?"

He paused, looked at me thoughtfully, and waited as our waitress came over with our drinks and asked for our orders. Itachi ordered for the both of us, and it seemed like he'd came here before, and the waitress left us with a lingering smile towards him. Heh, he's with _me_ now, blondie.

Not that I like Itachi-san that way -_'san'? With the 'san'!_-. I'm completely devoted to Sasuke, now.

"Our. . . parents were killed in a plane crash," he started, and paused to send me a glance, as if waiting for a reaction. "I'm sure you know that."

"Yeah," I muttered, nodding. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be," he shook his head, and sighed. "Sasuke thinks I didn't save them for selfish reasons. I can't say I'm not selfish, but I _couldn't_ save them. I love my parents; I would never do such horrible things to them. But," he paused again, and thought, "my child. . . he is just too important to me."

I blinked, repeating what he had just said in my thoughts, and then my jaw literally dropped as I sputtered and grasped for words to say. 'Child'? His child? 'Is'? What did he mean? "You. . . what?"

At my frightened expression, his face soften somewhat and nodded at the question I hadn't yet asked. "I have a child," he said, looking incredibly sad now. "I also had a girlfriend. She. . . was lost to the crash." What. "And we had a baby. I was planning to bring her and our child to my parents and marry her, but we were too busy with the baby that my girlfriend didn't have a chance to keep herself safe. She died." he paused and drew in a shaky breath as he looked outside the window sorrowfully. I suddenly felt my heart clench.

"And. . . did you lose your baby, too?" I asked in a soft voice, my throat suddenly feeling very sore. He turned his head back to me in question before smiling and shaking his head.

"No, he's fine. He's with my friends right now."

A sense of relief washed over me like a warm pour of water.

"I can't tell Sasuke. I want to tell Sasuke, but he just never listens." He sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. "The men that told him what basically happened holds a grudge against me. I _did_ leave the family, after all, but I didn't become a rebel or terrorist. They told my uncle and Sasuke that I didn't save my parents because I didn't love them."

"And now he hates you," I concluded, nodding in understanding. "Sounds like Sasuke. He doesn't listen."

Itachi smirked, but without the humor. "Yes."

I paused, tapping my chin, while Itachi stared at me in anticipation. After I planned out what to say to Sasuke in my mind, I stared at Itachi with a straight face. "I'll do it. I'll do anything I can to make Sasuke stop hating you. I hate seeing either of you like this."

Itachi looked relieved as he sent me another smile and nodded. Oh my god! He totally smiled at me, like, a hundred times now. "Thank you, Sakura," he said, looking truly grateful. Then his eyes softened as he tilted his head slightly and grinned one-side of his lips. "I can see why Sasuke would like you."

Ahem. I'm pretty sure he wasn't just _saying _that. But. . .

I smiled back at the older Uchiha, realizing how great of a person he really was. He totally did not look like any sort of rebel. "Thank you, too," I said, and ignored how silly that had sounded.

* * *

There was a thump, a swing of a door, and another thump followed by an incredulous-looking Sasuke at the doorway. I could feel him staring at me. "Wh- How did you-"

"Your 'maids' aren't here for nothing," I interrupted smugly as I stuffed the fresh tomatoes into his fridge. I finished with a satisfied sigh and looked at him triumphantly. Sasuke looked torn between amused and hopeless. "Tomatoes? You actually have some in the fridge. Oops."

"What are you doing here?" he asked nonchalantly, not at all sounding like he was actually concerned. He leaned against the doorway and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Just visiting," I answered, blushing slightly, feeling a little nervous. "You like tomatoes."

He didn't answer for a while, only stared at me. Then he pursed his lips and nodded once. "Hm."

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Got your homework done? Laundry? Dishes? Have you eaten anything yet? You should really learn to cook sometime, Sasuke."

If he weren't Sasuke, and he weren't so emo-ish, I swore he would've totally just laughed. However, he just settled with a smirk and an eyebrow raised. "You sound like my mother."

"I _am_ your mama. Now, tell me, have you eaten anything yet? I can cook you a late-lunch."

Still smirking, he shook his head slightly. "Ate."

Hmph. Typical Sasuke-answer.

"Fine," I sighed, rolling my eyes. But not too long after, I frowned slightly and dropped my confident look to slightly defensive. Sasuke's smirk was gone, as well. "Um," I finally said, and took a deep breath as I fidgeted with my fingers. At that, Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. "I have. . . something to tell you."

Sasuke didn't reply. He did, however, keep his hard stare fixed on me as he crossed his arms.

I blinked at him, waiting for another reaction, before I cleared my throat and took a deep breath again. I looked up, looked down, and finally decided to fix my eyes on his face. "I saw your brother today."

. . . I swore Sasuke's glare was drilling a hole through my head.

"No, wait, Sasuke!" I exclaimed, just as he stood up straight and looked ready to leave the room. I realized how the atmosphere had immediately just flipped within two seconds. "You have to listen. You didn't hear the whole story."

"I don't _need_ to hear the story," he said with his back to me, and strode out of the room with long steps. I followed, quick on his heels, and asked him to stop, again.

"Sasuke, please, listen to me. It's not what you think. Itachi-kun told me all about it, and-"

"'Itachi-kun'?" Sasuke repeated, halting and turning towards me. I almost crashed into him. "What."

I blinked at him again, feeling slightly confused. My mouth opened and closed as I looked for words to say. "Well, we talked, and then we just-"

"You talked. That makes him so precious?"

"This isn't about us, Sasuke, it's about you! Can't you see? You're so mad about other things that you're not even giving him a _chance_ to say anything. Sasuke, he didn't save your parents because he _couldn't_. I mean, he really did have other things-"

"You're so easy, Sakura. He's clearly just lying to you so you can get to me."

"Sasuke, please, stop hating him. He's your _brother_. He wouldn't try and manipulate you like that!"

"You don't know him, Sakura."

"I know him more than you do, now!" I yelled, then shrunk back slightly as I realized just how loud I was. "You're just. . . you're completely blinded by hate from a misunderstanding! Come on, Sasuke, just listen." As an afterthought, I pushed the hair from eyes and stared at him hard, "Please."

He studied at me silently for a few long seconds. Then I felt his breath against my face as he sighed and drew back, leaning against the opposite wall of the room. He gave me a look that was daring, and he set his lips to a straight line. He grunted.

I smiled at him slightly. "He was going to visit you and your parents," I started, relaxing. "He didn't know that they just came back from a business trip and was on the same plane as him, at first. He. . . he had a girlfriend," Sasuke's eyes widened a little, "and they also have a baby," his eyes went even wider. "When the plane was crashing, they were too preoccupied with the baby that he couldn't take care of your parents. She died, too, and you honestly don't know how devastated your brother really is." I took a deep breath, and gave him a hard look again. "So, Sasuke, please, don't hate him anymore. Everything you knew about him was wrong."

Sasuke was completely silent, his expression unreadable. After an agonizing amount of quietness, I looked down and drew his necklace from my pocket. His eyes widened again.

"I saw you throw it out in the lake a week ago," I murmured, and raised the piece of jewelry towards him as I smiled. "I know how much it really means to you, and I know you regret it." He looked slightly quizzical, and I took the chance to raise my eyebrow at him teasingly. "Don't think you're the only one who's smart here."

He was silent again, but was now looking at his possession. Slowly and tentatively, he reached out a hand and gently pulled it from my grasp, then stared down at it. Something in his eyes told me that he was glad.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened between you guys," I broke the silence again, but he didn't look up. "But everyone makes mistakes. This is a big one, yes, but you can't blame your brother. Not him. You know you love him, Sasuke."

He gave out a breath he probably had been holding, and his hand shook slightly as he held the shark pendant in his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them, and he glanced up at me before taking a big step and kissed me.

My body responded by wounding my arms around his neck and pulling him closer, smiling softly against his lips. In return, he placed his large hands on top of my hips and drew me to him, grip tightening when I slightly lost balance as I stepped closer. After a reasonable amount of time -longer than our first kiss-, we parted and took deep breaths as we soothed our thumping hearts. He rested his forehead against mine and sighed.

"Hey, Sasuke?" I murmured, knowing that he was finally over his fury. He made a sound that asked me to continue. "Were you just. . . jealous, that I called him 'Itachi-kun'?"

He grunted, and wound his arms around my waist as he kissed me again. Smiling, I pulled away first and waited for an answer. I glanced up at him expectantly.

Sasuke didn't remain stubborn for long, for he suddenly smirked and pinched me lightly with his fingers, teasing. His chest rumbled as he made a sound in the back of his throat again and touched his nose to mine. "Yeah," he mumbled, his lips barely a centimeter to mine, "I was jealous of the freakin' 'kun'."

I smiled, kissed him, and was surprised when he suddenly pulled back.

"But don't you ever call me that."

* * *

_Heehee, I don't know, I just thought I'd add a little more humor to the end of the story. It's lacking a bit, lately. This wasn't too short, right?_

_And is it my imagination, or is this chapter kinda rushed?_

_I'll try to update as soon as I can, again! Thanks for reading!_


	9. Chapter 8

_Another update within a month! This is a miracle!_

_Thank you all for waiting. I love you, guys. Honestly._

_Disclaimer: Yah yah! Dun own Naruto! (I'm extra hyper today. I don't know why. Don't ask.)_

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"Aww, come on! Let us see her for one second, yeah?"

"No. You. Get away from her. If I see you eyeing her for second I will gouge your eyes out."

". . . Huh. Seems like _you're_ the one who's her over-protective boyfriend."

"You, too. Shut up. I get it enough from loud-mouth-Joe over here-"

"-Hey!-

"-and I don't need to hear it from you. So be quiet. I didn't even ask you guys to come with me."

"So? We're your friends, yeah? We go through everything together. And besides, I really wanna meet the girl. Pink hair? Isn't that cool? It's not dyed, right? I mean, yeah, she's, like, five years younger than me, but age is just a number, yeah?"

"If you don't shut up, I _will_ do something bad to you. This time I'll cut off your bangs."

". . . _You wouldn't_."

I turned to my side and looked at Sasuke, who seemed torn between feeling angry or amused. I laughed nervously and twirled a few strands of hair in my finger and leaned back against his comfy sofa as we waited for Itachi to come in. It's been over a week now since I last talked with them both, and, miraculously, Sasuke agreed when his uncle had invited Itachi over for them to talk. What I'm sure he _hadn't_ agreed on was for Itachi's friends to come along as well.

"We won't ruin it for you," the first friend said. "We're pals, how can we ruin it for you?"

"Deidera, I'm serious. You can come over later. I honestly don't need you to creep her out with your art. She's also Sasuke's girlfriend, and I will not be there to help you if you upset him, and it won't be my fault if he actually cut off your hair. Now, go."

"Tch. That's no fun. There's always a way to steal her over, yeah?"

". . ."

". . . Uh oh. It's the infamous Uchiha-glare. Yeah, we'd better get out now, Sasori."

"Hm."

There was a shuffling of feet, and the creak of a door, and a few seconds later came a loud slam as the door closed shut. I twitched in surprise when Sasuke suddenly draped an arm over and around my shoulders before Itachi slowly walked in, and the two immediately engaged in a staring battle. I could literally feel the flame and electricity flying between their eyes.

My eyes, however, relaxed along with my body and rolled themselves in a big circle.

"Okay, creepy-goggling-brothers. You're here to bond, not to glare. I'm sure you don't actually need me to give you guys a whole lecture about it, considering you're both older than me."

Itachi settled himself on the couch in front of us as Sasuke slowly turned his head towards me. "You're older than me," he pointed out.

He grunted and glared when I elbowed him in the stomach.

"How have you been?" I asked Itachi casually, accepting the fact that Sasuke won't be speaking anytime soon now. Itachi nodded.

"I've been well. You?"

"Whatever I am around him," I replied, silently cocking my head towards Sasuke. He glared at me again.

"Graduation is coming soon, right?" Itachi asked the both of us, but Sasuke turned his gaze to the ground. He pursed his lips.

"Hm."

I sent him a little smile.

"Where will you be going to college?" the older brother continued. Even though the question was directed towards me, I knew he was waiting for Sasuke's answer. I'm sure Itachi knew what it was, but. . .

". . . Tsuda academy," Sasuke finally replied after a few seconds, and he reached forward to grab an apple from the tray on the table. When he leaned back, his arm that was around my shoulder then fell to his side, and I reached down to clasp my hand around his. He sent me a quick look, and laced his fingers through mine.

"That's a very good school," Itachi said, noticing our little intimate touch. "What do you plan on doing after university?"

"MBA," Sasuke replied almost immediately. "I'll be working with the company at the same time," he later added.

"Push Uncle off already?"

Sasuke smirked a little bitterly, "What else?"

Itachi suddenly shook his head, and his expression softened for the smallest of moments before he fixed his stare on his brother again. "Sophistication isn't pushing people down to get you where you want to go. I never meant to lead you down that path when you were younger, but you still have time to fix that."

"You didn't lead me to do anything," Sasuke's voice was suddenly hard, and I quickly squeezed his hand softly to calm him down. "I do whatever I want. You were just the pebbles in the road."

"But you never kicked them away. You were too busy trying to skip over them and it caused you to trip multiple times." Itachi leaned back and draped his arms behind him and over the couch, crossing his legs. "You're road's clear of me now, but you've grown into the habit of skipping and trying to overcome everything."

"Who are you to lecture me?" Sasuke smirked bitterly again, his tone sharp with edge. "I wasn't the one who abandoned the family and my younger brother."

"You weren't," Itachi agreed. "I was. And I do regret it. But at least your hatred for me did make you a better man." Sasuke's body under my hand tensed, and I squeezed his fingers again. "I don't have any power to tell you what to do, or to change your mind. But I do like a second chance. There's too many things I wish I could do all over again, and leaving this family and you was the biggest mistake I've made. I don't want to regret it in the future if I don't make this right, now." he cocked his head to the side, and for a moment I felt like the two were sharing a mental conversation that I was rudely intruding, but was welcomed into.

"I didn't become stronger than you," Sasuke said, and I turned to him in slight shock. "You became weaker."

One corner of Itachi's lips quirked up slightly, and he gave Sasuke a wry smile. Neither moved, but I assumed they came into a silent agreement. Itachi finally nodded once a moment later, and his eyes showed a sort of emotion I've never seen him look with anyone else. With the possible exception of his own son.

"We can put it that way," he said.

Sasuke finally took a bite out of his apple, and chewed thoughtfully for a while. Then his facade finally softened, and his smirk left the sourness it held before as he let go of my hand, and draped it around my shoulder again.

"I'm still better than you."

* * *

"Oh my god! Oh my _god_! I knew it! I knew it! I just _knew_ it was going to happen!"

Sasuke and I quickly pulled away before I smoothed down my hair and my ruffled uniform.

"I can't believe it!" Tenten continued, as it seemed that Ino was lost for words. Hinata barely looked worried as she held the fainted blonde in her arms. "I mean, I do, I just never knew it would happen! No wait, I _did_, I just never knew that you'd actually make it happen! No wait, I _also did_, but-"

"I'm so happy for you Sakura-chan," Hinata cut in, but Tenten never stopped rambling as she suddenly turned towards the male Hyuuga and he sent her looks of concern. Hinata looked at Sasuke, whom I noticed, was blushing. "Um, congratulations. I'm very glad you two finally sorted things out."

"We sorted things out, alright," I said sheepishly, and pushed myself away out from the corner. Sasuke held out an arm, suddenly, and wrapped it around my waist, pulling me towards him.

"I can't believe it," Ino suddenly stood up, making us all jump. "I can't believe _you_ of all people found the first boyfriend. _I_ am _obviously_ the best men-lady here, and _you_ two had hated each others guts. Now, what? Now, what! You two are making out in the corner of a school and jumping each other against my locker." she paused suddenly, and cringed and made a disgusted face. "Oh my god. Ew. You're jumping each other against my locker. Get away."

Sasuke scoffed and I rolled my eyes.

"Guess we couldn't keep this from them for long," I murmured to Sasuke, and he pulled me closer to him as I shared a smile with Neji. He wrapped an arm around Tenten and pulled her away, and nodded in fake-understanding when Ino suddenly said something not unlike, _"That Sai-idiot. Stupid Sai-idiot. I mean, it's already been a month! I mean, come on!" _Sasuke pressed his lips softly into my hair, and I sighed.

Then through the corner of my eyes, I saw a flash of bright yellow. I turned my head in alarm, and so did Sasuke, and Hinata faced us to meet my eyes and looked at us sadly. I slowly drew myself from Sasuke's embrace, and looked up at him.

"I'll talk with him. And then you'll talk later, 'k?"

He stared at me for a few seconds, and slowly nodded once before leaning down to plant a chaste kiss on my lips. I nodded back, and ran after Naruto's direction, passing Hinata on the way, who gave me an encouraging smile.

After much searching -and many _pant_ annoying stairs -, I found Naruto on the roof of the school, leaning against the railing with his fingers laced through the nets. Kakashi-sensei, I noticed, sat near the entrance, and was reading an orange book in his hands. He always had that book. Out of curiosity, I leaned over a bit to see what it was about. . .

. . .Oh my god. _Oh. My. God. _Is that? Is that a-

Ew. Ew. EEEWWWW!

I screamed silently and pressed my hands against my eyes as I jumped around in agony, shaking my head once in a while. Kakashi-sensei looked up at me in concern.

"Sakura. . .?" he asked.

Halting, I turned to him and glared.

". . .You've never seen a penis before?"

GAH! Stop it! My ears! Oh my god, my ears are bleeding!

"Guh, guh, guh, guh, guh!" I said, each time I slapped myself in the forehead. I stomped my feet a few times and jumped up in the air, before running around in circles like a maniac as I tried to get the images out of my head. I can't believe my most respected teacher had turned out to be a huge PERVERT!

"I'll be quiet now," Kakashi-sensei said softly, albeit amusingly, and leaned back against the wall as he buried himself into his 'book' again. I glared holes into the orange cover, contemplating on whether I should tear it and burn it or not, before I finally bit my lip in frustration and embarrassment and stalked towards Naruto's direction. I fell against the railing with my hands, and it rattled, but Naruto didn't move. After my face finally got rid of most of its heat, and the thought of Kakashi-sensei reading a porn book dripped out of my mind, I dared to look at Naruto with a tentative stare, taking in his unreadable expression. For the first time in a long time, I had no idea what he was thinking.

I was startled when he parted his lips and spoke in a soft voice, "So it really is him, huh?"

I felt like a knife just stabbed into my heart, and I almost shrunk away in guilt. I looked down at the playground through the fence, and nodded silently before Naruto sighed and turned so his back was against the metal. Taking a peek at him, I frowned. His eyes were cast down, and there was clear disappointment on his face.

"I always knew it was him, actually," he murmured quietly, his electric-blue eyes blinking. "I'm just sad I'm not surprised."

"I'm sorry, Naruto," I mumbled, and leaned my head against the metal railings. I closed my eyes as the cold hit me. "I. . . tried."

I didn't see, but I could almost feel him shrug. Shuffling, he sneaked an arm through the space between my shoulders and the fence and pulled me in a loose embrace. His face was buried in my shoulder as he sighed.

"I'll always love you, Sakura-chan."

I smiled sadly, and leaned my head to the side against his. I placed a hand on his and nodded.

"I know."

_'Just not in that way, right?'_

* * *

Two months later, we sat under the cherry-blossom tree in the back of our school, enjoying the breeze of mid-spring. I stretched and heard a few joints crack before I settled back down with a sigh. "So, school's almost over. Got any plans for vacation before you go to college?"

Sasuke grunted, and took a bite out of his tomato.

"Thought you'd say that."

I sighed happily and leaned back so I my head was on his lap. With my eyes closed, I could almost hear all the noises of my surroundings. I could hear the distant chirping of birds -as well as honking cars-, and the sound of leaves and flowers ruffling each other against the wind. Sasuke started playing with a few strands of my hair, and I smiled.

"After we go to different universities," I suddenly said, breaking the comfortable silence, "we might not be able to see each other often anymore."

Sasuke didn't reply, and I didn't expect him to.

"I mean, we might be able to. We're gonna be living in the same city, anyways. And I'll be able to get my car, and I'll come visit you often. Will you still be living in your house? Or are you moving out to an apartment? Konoha's not too far from Tokyo, right-"

He silenced me with a kiss, and for once I didn't really mind being interrupted. I lifted a hand and thread my fingers through his hair, gently massaging his scalp. He pulled away a moment later, breathless, but looking a little. . . confused, at the same time.

"Move in with me."

My eyes widened at his offer.

"I am getting an apartment," he murmured, touching my nose with his. "If you move in with me, I can get a two-bedroom one. I found one eighteen kilometers from my university, and sixteen from yours. There's also a bus station nearby if you want to take that." he looked down at me, and narrowed his eyes in concern. "What."

"Move in with you?" I repeated softly, albeit incredulously. My eyes widened even more when I saw slight pink tinting his cheeks.

"You don't have to," he said, and sat up straight. He looked straight ahead and frowned. "It was just an offer."

_'It was such a sweet offer,'_ I thought to myself, my mouth still slightly opened. I sat up as well, and wrapped my arms around his neck with a squeal. He grunted in surprise and leaned back because of the sudden impact. I smiled against his neck.

"Okay."

He sounded surprised for once, "Okay?"

Nodding, I pulled back so I can plant a kiss on his mouth. "But are you sure?"

"Sure."

"About us moving in together. I mean, I know I don't mind, but I don't know about _you_. We've only been dating for, like, a few months, and-"

"I never do things I'm not sure of, Sakura," he said seriously, still leaned back against his arms. Because of the close distance, I was able to see the pink on his cheeks again. "I don't know why I don't mind, and frankly, I don't really care. I just. . ." he trailed off, bowed his head, and murmured something so quietly I couldn't hear. I leaned forward with my ear.

"Huh?"

"I. . . want. . . to be with you."

I smiled, and my grin stretched so wide it felt almost painful. I turned his head up, and looked at him in the eyes seriously. Though I highly doubted I succeeded because of the wild beam on my face.

"Time is just a number," I said. He nodded once. I smiled again. "Then I love you."

His eyes widened, even though he already knew, and slowly his face softened into a small smirk that lacked the cold edge it always held. For a moment, Sasuke looked absolutely _happy_.

"Hn," he said, placing a hand on my leg and the other behind my neck. He kissed me again. "You too."

* * *

"Oh my god, Neji, I am so _so_ sorry!"

Neji rubbed his leg, and lifted his head so he could frown at me.

"Tch," Sasuke said from inside the car, crossing his arms. I turned to glare at him. "I gave you my car to drive, and you managed to run over someone with it. What's with you and vehicles?"

"Shut it," I snapped, and turned my attention back onto the brunette in front of the car. He stopped rubbing his limb, and was standing up, but in the same position Sasuke was in. I leaned against the opened door of my side and rested my chin against my hands. "I'm sorry, Neji!"

"No harm done," he said, and sighed as he rubbed his head. "I'm not surprised if you were the one to do it."

I gasped, faking to be offended, and glared at him playfully. "Hey!"

"Good luck in the future, Sakura. I hope you and cars will be very happy together." He smirked playfully, and continued walking down the street as he had been before I almost accidentally crashed into him. With my eyes still narrowed and following him, he crossed the road with a wave.

I sat back into my seat with a sigh, and closed the car door. When I turned to look at Sasuke, he was smirking. "Wipe that smile off your face, or I will wipe it off for you."

He rolled his eyes, making the sound with his teeth again.

"Don't 'tch' me, Sasuke!" I said, my face starting to heat up. "It was your fault for distracting me! I almost crashed into him!"

"With my car."

"Because it's your fault."

"I only touched your hand."

"_No_," I countered, my face heating up even more. "You-you-you totally flirted with me, and asked me to sleep with you! I mean, we were talking about math class, and you suddenly said 'real math is subtracting your clothes, dividing your legs, and then multiplying'!"

He turned away stubbornly with red grazing his cheeks. "I did not."

"You so did." I said, and poked my tongue out at him. Turning my attention back onto the wheel in front of me, I huffed. "That was a really cheesy pick-up line, by the way."

"Hn," he said, and I heard the shuffling of fabric as he leaned over to my ear. I slowly started out of the empty driveway of the school, so thank goodness no one was behind us and was honking. "You need to take driving lessons."

I glared at him from the corner of my eyes, "What?"

"I don't want you falling in love with the person you ran over in the future."

I smiled, nudged his shoulder with my elbow, and focused on the road so I can make sure that won't happen again.

* * *

_AH! IT'S ALMOST DONE! I can't believe this is almost finished. -tear- I absolutely loved writing this! And it's almost over? -sniff- My baby has finally grown up._

_So! Anyway, I hope I can publish the next chapter soon. I actually think I will. Yeah. . . It will be the epilogue, and should be out by the end of this month. :)_

_I send you all my love!_


	10. Epilogue

_I lied. I didn't publish it at the end of May, and I feel utterly ashamed. Because, you know, I had a, uh, writer's block? -ducks from various pencils, knives, flying pigs, or anything that is suddenly thrown my way- Sorry?_

_Disclaimer: Did not, do not, and will not ever own Naruto. -tear-_

* * *

**Epilogue**

_Five Years Later_

I peered down at the blob of black hair and pale skin, as his wide obsidian eyes stared at me in curiosity and anticipation. Smiling, and knelt down to his height and ruffled his hair, "Can you go and help Daddy and Uncle carry in their tomatoes? You're a big man now, right?"

"Right," he chirped back cheerfully, and scurried his way across the kitchen and towards the front door of the house. Chuckling, I stood up, and soon enough Sasuke entered briskly with one brow raised, a reusable bag of fresh tomatoes in his arms.

"You're treating him like your son."

"He _is_ my son."

"Then who's the father?"

"That's none of your business."

Sasuke looked annoyed but amused at the same time.

"Itachi's gotta be pretty lucky to have a wife like you," a man suddenly called from the hallway, and then his blond head poked through the door to smirk at me. "And Zatsu's lucky to have you as a mom."

Sasuke made an irritated sound through his teeth as he made his way to the refrigerator, and I laughed at Deidara as he stepped in with a smug smile. Sasori-pretty-boy soon entered the room quietly, and stared at me with a lazy gaze as my chuckling died down, and I shrunk back slightly at Sasuke's withering glare. Not even a minute later, the kitchen was packed with Itachi's friends and new food as his son followed close on his trail, observing his father's every move.

"How's your job going for you?" Itachi asked politely once we settled down in his living room with chips and junk food on the tables. I smiled as I wrapped an arm around Zatsu when he jumped onto the spot beside me on the couch.

"Pretty well. It's really busy though," I replied, and noisily sipped on my drink with a straw. "Since I work in the ER in the hospital, and all, things are very unpredictable. It's basically different every day. Not that I necessarily dislike it."

"I see."

"What about the company? How's vice-chairman going for you?"

At this, Itachi sighed amusingly, and gave Sasuke a pointed look as he leaned back against the seat. "My little brother here keeps bossing me around during work. Keeps saying that I don't take my job seriously."

"That's because you don't," Sasuke muttered moodily.

Itachi shrugged. "I'm the vice-chairman, not the boss. Taking a job seriously is _your_ work."

Sasuke glared.

"So, erm, I'm assuming that everything's well?" I interrupted awkwardly. Three Uchiha heads turned towards me, and two of them tilted their heads back and sighed amusingly whilst the other happily started to poke my arms. I caught Zatsu's hands, and he giggled as I pulled him onto my lap and tickled him.

So this was what a true family felt like.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Ino asked with a flirtatious voice, and stroked a pose in her glorious paparazzi-styled dress as the rest of us laughed and clapped our hands. Modeling was the job that suited Ino almost perfectly in her sexy-looks-glory, while Hinata was currently working as a kindergarden teacher, and Tenten was running her own martial-arts class for kids. At the side, I could almost _feel_ Karin rolling her eyes as she ran her hands through the racks of clothing, and flipping her hair back in an I'm-so-much-better-than-you fashion.

"You look like a disco ball," she said, and Ino immediately snapped her head towards her to glare.

"Nobody asked _you,_" she sneered, placing her hands on her hips. "And for your information, a disco ball looks way better than you in your hippy clothing."

The red-head turned her head towards Ino and gaped.

"I can't believe anyone would want _her_ as a magazine model," Tenten muttered as she leaned forward in front of Hinata, since she was sitting in the middle. "Anyone can tell that she's a brat."

"No kidding," I replied, smiling sarcastically, but the rest of my sentence was interrupted as Sasuke and the rest of the boys walked in loudly, laughing.

"Woah, Ino," Kiba exclaimed, ignoring Naruto as he dashed by him to greet us girls on the couch. "Pretty hot there."

"Heard _that_ before," Ino replied, and winked at him. Sai slowly walked up to her with a -still creepy- smile on his face, and she kissed him on the cheek in greeting.

"The dress makes your boobs look bigger."

Ino promptly lifted her purse from a nearby table and whacked him in the head.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said cheerfully, and pulled me into a tight hug. From over his shoulder, I saw Tenten stand up and peck Neji on the lips before Hinata waved at her cousin. "How are you? It's been like, what, a month since I last saw you?"

"A week," I corrected amusingly, and slapped him playfully on the arm. "And I'm good. I'm just glad we can all get together, and stuff. You look pretty well, so I'm not gonna bother to ask the question."

Naruto laughed.

"Suigetsu," I heard Sasuke say irritatingly on the side, and I turned my head towards his direction before I saw a white-haired guy with him, and Karin strode towards them. "Please don't tell me-"

"Yup. It's official. We're dating."

"Who's dating, you idiot!" Karin exclaimed loudly, and punched him in the shoulder that sent him flying to the floor. She quickly recovered by sending Sasuke a sickening sweet smile. "Hi, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke spared her one glance, and grunted.

Ha! Take that, bitch!

"To be honest, I have absolutely no idea why I'm dating her," Suigetsu moaned as he stood up and rubbed his head. Karin turned to glare at him again. "She's vicious."

"I know the feeling."

Offended, and sent Sasuke a dirty look. Surprisingly, he caught it as he turned to me and smirked.

"-and so, it was hilarious. I mean, try imagining a guy running around with a bowl of ramen on his head. Ha ha. Oh, Sakura-chan!"

I turned my head towards the loud blond in question.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"The reciprocal of sadness and doom is The Ramen God!"

"The what?"

"The Ramen God! Because Ramen brings all happiness to the world!"

"The what?"

Naruto's smile immediately turned into a frown.

"I never understood why you're dating him, Hinata," Ino sighed as she walked towards us, ignoring Naruto's protest of a "Hey!" Hinata laughed quietly.

"Well, um, he's sweet," she said softly, and I made a girly noise before I leaned towards her and cuddled her side.

"You guys are too cute together," I said cheerfully. "I agree. Naruto's weird. But I also agree that he's sweet." I paused, and turned to glare at Sasuke. "Unlike Mr. Emo-Dude over there."

Sasuke heard me, and turned to glare back.

"You don't mean that," Tenten laughed, her arm linked with Neji's quite contently. She leaned forward. "You guys have been living together for five years now, huh? Wow. Time goes by too fast."

"I know," Ino said, "I still remember the day she turned red and stuttered so bad when she first talked to Neji-"

"-And we really don't need to go over that; thanks, Ino," I interrupted, and glared at Neji's smirk.

"So will we be seeing Uchiha babies any time soon?" Kiba teased from over Naruto's shoulder, and I felt my cheek heat up almost immediately.

"O-of course–of course not!" I retorted, and snuggled even closer to Hinata. "There's already a Uchiha baby. Sasuke won't be needing one."

"Says who?" I heard his teasing voice behind me, and I crossed my arms as I looked up from my position on Hinata's shoulder.

"How many times do you do her each day, Uchiha?" Kiba's loud voice asked again, and Naruto laughed awkwardly with him.

"About three."

I kicked Sasuke in the shin.

"Ha ha, ew. We're not talking about this here," Ino said, and linked her arm with Sai's. "We're here for a get together! We haven't been like this for so long!"

"Which club are we going to this time, Ino?" Tenten quirked an eyebrow up, and Ino beamed triumphantly.

"The Lotus Club!"

At the same moment, the door of the room backstage of the photo shoot opened and crashed against the wall.

"Good day, my youthful friends!"

As if on cue, everyone but Ino bowed their heads and groaned.

"Hi, Lee."

* * *

"Hey, Sasuke!" I yelled to him over the loud music, and in turn he stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned towards me. "Wanna escape?"

"Escape to where?" he asked back, though I could barely hear him because he almost never raised his voice.

"I dunno, just outta here. This place is driving me crazy. I'm so hot."

At his smirk, I felt my cheeks grow red again. "Oh, you know what I mean."

I think he grunted, since he suddenly grabbed me by the hand and tugged in response. "Come on. Let's go."

I happily allowed him to half-drag me out of the sea of people, and out into the fresh air of the early evening. "So much better," I sighed, and laced my fingers through his. "Where can we go?"

"How about there?" He asked me softly, and tilted his chin towards a small restaurant a block down.

I blinked for a while, before I tilted my head in recognition. "You took me there last year," I paused, and smiled at him. "For my birthday."

"Hn," he replied, and tugged me gently by the hand as we crossed the deserted streets and into the cozy building. The place smelt of fresh air and slight mint, and we settled ourselves into a booth near the windows. A middle-aged waitress had welcomed us and served us tea, before leaving a moment later to wait for us to order. I hummed happily.

"What to get, what to get," I murmured, and flipped through the menu like a little child. Sasuke, I noticed suddenly, looked completely still, and. . . was it just my imagination, or was he sweating just a little bit? I looked up at him in concern, but his eyes were cast down on the table and his hands were clasped. "Sasuke?"

"Mmm," he closed his eyes, and stayed like that for a little while. When he opened them, I almost gasped at the strong emotion in them, even though I couldn't exactly tell what that emotion was. My heart started to pound in worry. "Nothing."

. . . Oh my god. He wasn't going to break up with me, was he? I mean, yeah, I'm busy most of the time, and we don't hang out as much as we should, but we've still been together for five years! And now. . . was he getting bored of me?

The sudden thought of him wanting to end this brought me down immediately, and I frowned as I leaned back against my seat, and looked at the menu with much less eagerness. Our waitress came soon after, and time seemed to have flown by as she ordered our meals, presented them, and handed us our fortune cookies when we were both done. Sasuke still hadn't said anything, and that made me frown even more. I tore my dessert out of its plastic bag, and cracked it open.

Suddenly, something shiny and round fell out from the shell and landed on the table with a 'ding'.

I blinked in surprise as I looked down at the object, and picked it up gingerly with my fingers. When my brain finally registered what it was, I had dropped the rest of my cookie and the tiny slip of paper fell out.

"_Marry Me."_

I couldn't see him through the blurriness of my eyes, but I faintly heard him move up from his seat, knelt down beside me, and took my hand that held the ring as I clasped the other over my mouth. He pulled it out gently from my grasp, and kissed my fingers that were clasped around his.

"Sakura."

I was sobbing already as I turned to him with wide eyes. Murmurs erupted from around the room like echoes, yet somehow, everything just seemed so quiet.

"Will you marry me?"

Choking out a laughter, I held my fist to my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, wondering if this was just some wonderful dream, before I nodded quickly, and smiled at him.

"Yes, yes." He slipped the ring on my finger with a small smile. "Oh hell yes!"

I then proceeded to jump on his still-knelt-down figure, wrap my arms around his neck, and kissed him.

At that moment, it didn't matter that there were a few other people in the room watching, smiling and clapping, or that my friends had somehow appeared by the window next to us and was shouting in celebration, not looking drunk at all. At that had mattered was that I was finally where I belonged, and the pink crystals on my silver ring glistened under the dim light of the room like a cherry blossom blooming.

* * *

_Eek, I didn't really like the ending. It was so cheesy. _

_But still! -tear- It is officially done! I cannot believe that this story is, like, about eight months old. My baby, I'm going to miss taking care of you!_

_And thank you all sooo much for supporting me all the way until now. :) I hope you liked it!_

_Much love, readers! If you want more Naruto from me, I'll be writing a new humor and crack story that'll be up in a few days. Thanks all!_


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